Writers: J.C. Chandor, Mark Boal
DOP: Roman Vasyanov
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, Pedro Pascal
Five former special forces operatives reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America.
The film was originally supposed to be directed by Kathryn Bigelow with the likes of Johnny Depp attached. Then it got dropped and various actors like Mahershala Ali, Will Smith got attached with Paramount supposed to produce it. It again got shelved and finally Netflix acquired it with J.C. Chandor directing it. I am a fan of the director with films like Margin Call and A Most Violent Year working extremely well for me. Oscar Isaac is the main protagonist of the film and not Ben Affleck. It is basically a project with A-List actors working on B Grade sensibility material. That is not to disparage it as it is quite self aware about what they are aiming for and it is a lot of fun to watch. The action set pieces works extremely well and the pace changes are handled nicely.
The locations it is shot at are quite gorgeous and it could have been a nice theatre experience. I guess we should be glad that it got made at least. Moral dilemmas that some of the characters go through seems quite tacked on surface level bullshit but that is alright if you are watching it as a fun action film. People tend to rate non-arty biggish budget Netflix films with prejudice as if they were not good enough to get a big theatrical release anyway. I do think they got a hit on their hands with this.
Rating: 3.5/5
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