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3 days to kill: film review.

This comic spy thriller stars Kevin Costner as a dying CIA agent who is recruited for one last mission.

By THR Staff

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Yet another member of the AARP generation of action movie stars returns to show us how it’s done in 3 Days to Kill , marking Kevin Costner ‘s first big-screen leading role in many a moon. Playing Ethan, a dying CIA agent enticed to go on one last mission by the promise of an experimental drug that could prolong his life, the veteran actor effortlessly exudes the cool charisma, here tinged with a comic world-weariness, that reminds us why he became a star in the first place.

It’s a good thing the film has him, because this comic spy thriller is such a preposterous mashup of action, humor and sentimentality that it desperately needs his anchoring presence. Based on a story by Luc Besson , who also co-scripted, its main plot element is not Ethan’s perfunctory assignment to kill a eurotrash villain but rather his intense desire to reconnect with his long estranged wife, Christine ( Connie Nielsen ), and teenage daughter, Zoey ( Hailee Steinfeld ). Cue a running gag in which every time Ethan is about to, say, torture a bad guy, he’s interrupted by a phone call from Zoey signaled by her personal ring tone, the Icona Pop song “I Love It (I Don’t Care).”

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Ethan, whose hacking cough in the first moments indicates that he’s got more than a bad cold, is recruited for the mission by Vivi ( Amber Heard ), a vampish CIA handler who apparently thinks that the best way to keep a low profile is to wear skintight leather outfits and bright red lipstick. Constantly smoking a cigarette to indicate her coolness, she’s the sort of ridiculous creation that would no doubt inspire riotous chortling were the film to be screened at Langley.

Ethan’s mission is to kill “The Wolf,” who makes it his business to supply dirty weapons to terrorists the world over. But he finds it a little hard to concentrate on the job at hand when he’s simultaneously trying to deal with Zoey, who harbors longstanding resentment over his absent fatherhood, and the large brood of squatters who have taken over his ramshackle Paris apartment.

Director McG , who trafficked in similar territory with 2012’s This Means War , throws in enough high-octane action sequences, including a harrowing car chase through the streets of Paris, to please genre fans. At age 59, Costner is still physically up to the task, convincingly beating up guys less than half his age.

But what clearly attracted him to the role was not the pro forma tough-guy stuff but rather the complicated family dynamics that tax Ethan far more than his mission. Tasked with taking care of Zoey for three days while his wife is out of town, he’s perpetually bewildered by the rebellious young woman who disdains the garish purple bicycle he’s given her as a peace offering.

This results in some amusing moments, as when Ethan interrupts his interrogation of an Italian bad guy to force him to get on the phone with Zooey and tell her his mother’s recipe for spaghetti sauce, or when he takes lessons in fatherhood from an informant (a very funny Marc Andreoni ) whom he mainly keeps locked up in the trunk of his car.

The screenplay by Besson and Adi Hasak also makes some humorous nods to Costner’s past film career, such as when, after rescuing Zoey from some sexual predators at a rave, he lifts her up in his arms as he did Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard . And his pursuit of the villain’s milquetoast accountant recalls his similar quest in The Untouchables .

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Costner handles all this with a deadpan comic flair, looking great in the scruffy jeans that inspire one bad guy to comment disparagingly, “He’s from Brokeback Mountain.” When he finally dons a sharp black suit late in the film, the admiring glances he gets from his wife and daughter are sure to be echoed by female audience members of all ages.

The film features enough scenic Parisian locations to virtually qualify as a travelogue, with nary a familiar landmark overlooked. When he finally teaches an embarrassed Zoey how to ride her new bike, he does so not in a secluded spot but rather in the tourist-clogged hills of Montmartre.

There are some overdone plot devices, such as Ethan’s constantly collapsing from the ill effects of the drug just as he’s about to nab one of the bad guys. And the increasingly fond relationship between him and the squatters, including an adorable young boy with whom he learns to high-five, is too cutely rendered by far.

It’s all absurd in a way that is typical Besson. But it’s also undeniably entertaining, and it marks a relatively pain-free way to kill, if not three days, at least a couple of hours.

Production: 3DTK, EuropaCorp, Relativity Media, Wonderland Sound and Vision Cast: Kevin Costner , Hailee Steinfeld, Amber Heard, Connie Nielsen Director: McG Screenwriters: Luc Besson, Adi Hasak Producers: Marc Libert, Ryan Kavanaugh Executive producer: Tucker Tooley Director of photography: Thierry Arbogast Editor: Audrey Simonaud Production designer Sebastien Inizan Costume designer: Olivier Eriot Composer: Guillaume Roussel

Rated PG-13, 117 minutes

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3 Days to Kill Reviews

A mediocre action picture that never anchors itself enough to tell a competent story.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 25, 2022

That the CIA has a quick-acting cure for cancer is only the fifth or sixth most implausible thing in this movie.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Sep 9, 2021

Costner has a world weary, easy charm here that helps sell the humor and he appears comfortable with the action.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2021

Ranges from clichéd characters and vacuous dialogue to an inconsistent tone and mismatched antics.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Dec 4, 2020

For moviegoers craving a couple hours of good old-fashioned mindless action this should definitely do the job.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 24, 2020

No movie can be this bizarre, disjointed, and terrible without it being on purpose, right? Every leaves you scratching your head, wondering what the hell everyone involved was thinking.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 8, 2020

Nothing warms my heart more than a father-daughter film - unless it's a father-daughter film with kick-ass action; which means, 3 Days To Kill is killer!

Full Review | Jan 8, 2020

Some nifty action sequences and serviceable editing can only mask the indecisive aura of a confused narrative for so long.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 29, 2019

3 Days to Kill really cares about its parental themes, with neurotic and bizarre results.

Full Review | Aug 28, 2019

My least favorite actor is back, and he's looking to make up for lost time in the "things that suck" department. And sweet tap-dancing Moses does 3 Days to Kill suck.

Full Review | Original Score: F | Aug 6, 2019

A McG film... based on a story by Luc Besson. So why isn't it more enjoyable?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 14, 2019

3 Days to Kill has plenty to offer and has more than enough going for it to engage the interest if you have a couple of hours to kill.

Full Review | Mar 5, 2019

As a flat and fledgling spy vehicle, 3 Days To Kill could not die soon enough.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 11, 2018

In the end, you'll be left with a movie that you wish you could like more than you do. And then you'll forget about it.

Full Review | Nov 21, 2017

Lighthearted while managing to mix a torture scene with a recipe for spaghetti sauce, the film's myriad elements come together with a deft touch, without losing the plot.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 15, 2017

The film itself is a tone-deaf, awkward mess that is miles below the actor's maligned bombs like Waterworld and The Postman.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jun 21, 2016

( ... ) a mindlessly entertaining, disjointed, frequently unbelievable hell-for-leather action adventure.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2014

Fine, in a mid-budget, wholly inconsequential way.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2014

3 Days to Kill is a frequently bizarre, never boring mash-up that doesn't come together yet perfectly encapsulates everything both good and bad about Luc Besson's recent output

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 25, 2014

French filmmaker Luc Besson continues to combine family themes with intense violence (see Taken), but at least this film has a wry sense of humour about it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 24, 2014

• Cast & crew

User reviews

3 Days to Kill

Decent enough action thriller, it grew on me by the end..

• Oct 27, 2016

Good but could have been much better

• muamba_eats_toast
• Jun 8, 2020

One Of The Most Action Packed Movies Of Costner's Career

• slightlymad22
• Nov 1, 2016
• Sep 30, 2021

Exciting and funny action flick

• HotToastyRag
• Jun 21, 2017

Very Luc Besson-esque!

• Feb 20, 2014

Fun, quirky and different

• TreasureHunterGirl
• Jun 2, 2019

Take your chances. You have a 50/50 shot.

• May 9, 2014

Pretty entertaining

• Oct 21, 2021

Solid cast, but a ridiculous storyline

• estebangonzalez10
• May 11, 2014

Don't take it seriously!

Taken 2 meets 3 days of stupidity **.

• paris_whitney_hilton_nyc
• Feb 22, 2014

Taken for a Ride

So contrived, so uninteresting.

• Sep 23, 2014

Relatively good, worth watching

• Oct 17, 2014
• May 21, 2021

Does enough relatively well and covers many bases

• RageQuitLeigh
• Feb 19, 2021

Decent enough Spy/Family movie. Worth watching

• Jan 26, 2017

Felt real enough for the moment.

• May 29, 2014

A film lost in itself

• jamesjabbawalden

Not conceptual, but definitely above average thriller

• Mar 6, 2014

Costner makes the most of what he is given in this rather forgettable action/drama/comedy

• May 5, 2014

Really Great movie - why such low rating????

• Dec 1, 2017

Very Entertaining Movie

• jerrysmithimdb
• Mar 1, 2014
• marshalleric-54686
• Nov 9, 2020

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Movie Review

Down and Armed in Paris, Teenager in Tow

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By A.O. Scott

• Feb. 20, 2014

In the new movie “3 Days to Kill,” Paris is full of thugs for hire with bald heads and dark suits, and the last thing they want to see — in many cases the last thing they do see — is Kevin Costner, unshaven and in faded jeans, shuffling down the hallway in their direction. Sometimes these tough guys make fun of the fact that Mr. Costner’s character, Ethan Renner, is American, calling him “cowboy” and other hilarious names. The deeper joke, perhaps unintentional, is that Ethan looks more French than most of the Parisians he encounters. With his loosely tied scarf and graying stubble, his sunglasses and his world-weary demeanor, he could easily pass for a philosophy professor or the leader of a Serge Gainsbourg tribute band. If he spoke any French, that is.

But Ethan is a true-blue C.I.A. superassassin, and “3 Days to Kill” is un film de McG (mak-ZHAY) from the atelier of Luc Besson , a noted practitioner of le cinéma de l’absurde who serves this project as a screenwriter and producer. The idea seems to have been to explore how little sense a movie could make, and how little that could matter, and also to allow Mr. Costner to indulge in some good-natured sadism and a bit of middle-aged sentimentality. There is a lot of violence, but very few hard feelings, except between Ethan and his teenage daughter, Zooey (Hailee Steinfeld), who lives in Paris with her mother, Christine (Connie Nielsen), Ethan’s ex-wife.

There is a villain, too — a pair of them, actually, vaguely Germanic arms dealers known as the Wolf (Richard Sammel) and the Albino (Tómas Lemarquis) — but they are among the most irrelevant bad guys in the history of movies. Mr. Costner’s real nemesis is Liam Neeson , who has been the go-to globe-hopping wintertime action dad at least since “Taken.” (He’ll be back next week with “Non-Stop”). “3 Days to Kill” serves notice (as the latest, dreadful “Die Hard” sequel did last year) that there’s a new angry papa in town and offers a slight twist on the formula. Rather than placing the daughter in peril, it forces the protagonist to juggle parental responsibilities and professional duties. So Ethan will often be interrupted — say in the middle of torturing one of the Wolf’s associates with duct tape and a car battery — by the perky ringtone signaling that Zooey needs something.

Ethan is making up for lost time and racing with the clock. Apparently, his work messed up his marriage, and now he finds himself back in Paris with a terminal illness. Luckily, his boss — a United States-taxpayer-supported femme fatale named Vivi (Amber Heard), who has an impressive collection of fast cars, high-heeled shoes and wigs — has access to an experimental treatment. As long as Ethan keeps up with his assignments, she’ll be waiting with a giant syringe in an elegant velvet-lined case.

By any reasonable standard, “3 Days to Kill” is a terrible movie: incoherent, crudely brutal, dumbly retrograde in its geo- and gender politics. But it is also, as much because of as in spite of these failings, kind of fun. Mr. Costner does nothing he hasn’t done before: He slips into the gruff cynic-with-a-heart-of-gold persona that has been his default setting at least since “Bull Durham” and figures that will be enough. It almost is. There is nothing remotely believable about Ethan — as a father, an expatriate or, goodness knows, an agent of American policy — and yet when he studies the grooves on a vinyl phonograph record, or gives his daughter a belated bike-riding or just-in-time-for-prom dance lesson, or beats up the creeps who are assaulting her in the bathroom of a rave club, you may feel the stirrings of a familiar affection. This is a movie star, and even in a movie as ridiculous as this one that still counts for something.

“3 Days to Kill” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Father of the year kills and tortures bad guys.

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Parents' guide to, 3 days to kill.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 3 Reviews
• Kids Say 5 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Decent lightweight action film packed with shooting.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that 3 Days to Kill is another slick, lightweight action movie by writer and producer Luc Besson. Nothing is very realistic and nothing is meant to be taken too seriously, but the stylized violence includes lots of shooting and killing, with very little consequence. Some blood is shown,…

Why Age 15+?

The movie features frequent, stylish violence with lots of shooting and killing.

Language is very infrequent, but does contain the occasional strong word, such a

The main character and his ex-wife are shown kissing, and they wake up in bed to

Characters are shown sipping wine at home, or drinking casually in clubs. When t

Any Positive Content?

The value of spending time with family rather than working all the time is a cen

The main character is a good guy, and he loves his family, but he's a cold-h

Parents need to know that 3 Days to Kill is another slick, lightweight action movie by writer and producer Luc Besson . Nothing is very realistic and nothing is meant to be taken too seriously, but the stylized violence includes lots of shooting and killing, with very little consequence. Some blood is shown, but the movie is not overly gory. There's also some comical torture to get information, and a brief suggestion of teen boys attempting to sexually assault a teen girl. Language is infrequent but does include uses of "f--k" and "s--t." Sex is suggested between an adult couple, and a teen girl passionately kisses her boyfriend. A naked female bottom is shown in a tattoo parlor. There is some casual background drinking and one instance of drinking to comic effect. Teens may be drawn to younger stars Amber Heard or Hailee Steinfeld .

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Violence & Scariness

The movie features frequent, stylish violence with lots of shooting and killing. Blood is shown, but the movie is not overly gory. Characters are threatened and lightly tortured for information. In a brief suggestion of sexual assault, three teen boys surround a teen girl at a club; they are shown attempting to pull up her dress while she says "no." The main character suffers attacks and hallucinations (the images ripple back and forth), accompanied by nose-bleeds. A woman is decapitated in an elevator shaft (offscreen). There are car chases and explosions.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language is very infrequent, but does contain the occasional strong word, such as "f--k," "s--t," "damn," "hell," and "Jesus Christ."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

The main character and his ex-wife are shown kissing, and they wake up in bed together. He is seen ogling her body as she wears a sleek nightie. A teen girl passionately kisses her boyfriend. A woman's naked bottom is shown in a tattoo parlor. A dancer onstage appears to be naked, though she is mostly obscured by smoke, and nothing explicit is shown. A main character is shown wearing seductive clothing, and in one shot, she stands over the fallen hero wearing a leather skirt; there is some mild spoken innuendo about this incident.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters are shown sipping wine at home, or drinking casually in clubs. When the character gets his "attacks" and begins hallucinating, vodka is said to calm him down. He drinks roughly two-thirds of a bottle and, in a comical moment, is shown to be a bit tipsy.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

The value of spending time with family rather than working all the time is a central theme. Violence is stylized and life is taken without much consequence.

Positive Role Models

The main character is a good guy, and he loves his family, but he's a cold-hearted killer when his job requires it. He coolly dispatches several minions and lackeys throughout the course of the movie, with no consequences.

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (5)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Should be rated "R"!

What's the story.

The CIA is on the trail of an international weapons dealer, called "The Wolf." Agent Vivi Delay ( Amber Heard ) is tasked to find him. Agent Ethan Renner ( Kevin Costner ) is also on the job, but lets a suspect get away when he passes out. It turns out he has brain cancer that has spread to his lungs. Moving to Paris to spend time with his teen daughter Zoey ( Hailee Steinfeld ), and perhaps to patch things up with his ex-wife ( Connie Nielsen ), he is contacted by Vivi; she thinks he can identify The Wolf, and if he helps, she can get him an experimental cancer treatment that could prolong his life. Unfortunately, his ex goes away for three days, leaving Ethan solely in charge of Zoey, who doesn't yet know the true nature of his job...

Is It Any Good?

Once again writer and producer Luc Besson has cranked out another second-tier, unpretentious action entertainment with a minimum of fuss. To be sure, 3 DAYS TO KILL is ridiculous in spots and downright preposterous in others, but it keeps up a brisk pace, throws in some exciting flourishes from time to time, and manages to cook up some genuinely sympathetic, interesting, and likeable characters.

Kevin Costner is a major factor. He is in great shape, but has developed the weathered look of a strong character actor. Amber Heard is also a great help; she's appealing to watch and portrays a bit of strength. Then there's former music video director McG , who thus far has not shown much talent in storytelling, but has at least shown a strong directorial hand at slick action sequences. That skill pays off here. Overall, 3 Days to Kil l is an appealingly simple popcorn movie that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's violence . What would be the real-life consequences of the violence that you see here?

What's appealing about a character that kills people for a living? Is he likeable? Is he a good role model ?

What's appealing about the Vivi character? Is she a strong female character, or a stereotype?

How did you feel about the father-daughter relationship in the film? Is it realistic? What kinds of things did they talk about together? Did it inspire you to have a similar conversation in your home?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 21, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : May 20, 2014
• Cast : Kevin Costner , Amber Heard , Hailee Steinfeld
• Director : McG
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Bisexual actors, Asian actors, Multiracial actors
• Studio : Relativity Media
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 113 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language
• Last updated : July 29, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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3 Days To Kill Review

20 Jun 2014

117 minutes

3 Days To Kill

Kevin Costner makes a bid for Liam Neeson’s misanthropic action star status, armed with a Luc Besson script, a curmudgeonly attitude, mad CIA skills and an estranged daughter. With Costner’s dying ex-CIA assassin forced to keep his heart rate low, it sometimes feels like Crank in reverse – i.e. painfully slow. Director McG seems unsure whether to play the father/daughter relationship for laughs, and True Grit’s Steinfeld is wasted in a boilerplate ‘troubled teen’ role. Costner, however, is convincing – not so much ‘too old for this shit’ as too good – although the scene where his grizzled hitman teaches his daughter to ride a bike is more excruciating than anything in the Hostel films.

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Movies | 04 08 2014

3 Days To Kill

The beginning of the surprisingly pleasant 3 Days To Kill is the sort of typically-obnoxious blast of violence that most films feel the need to force onto audiences to jolt them out of their seats.

After that brief ballet into brutality, however, McG's Parisian-set thriller launches into its opening credits. Running contrary to the body count, Ann Peebles' gorgeous, downbeat "Trouble, Heartaches And Sadness" scores a quiet backseat ride by disaffected spy Ethan Renner, an appealingly aging Kevin Costner .

Like the film’s best sequences, this is a modest departure from the cacophonous slapstick-fest we’ve been promised by the film’s ad campaign, instead languishing within Costner’s old-school charisma and weathered charm. With the bullets and the decapitations of the first few minutes out of the way, the picture settles into a sense of confidence, one overseen by the sparse opening credits, skipping over nearly all technical credits to rush to Directed By McG . Even the influence of writer and superproducer Luc Besson can’t sway this: unquestionably, this is McG’s movie.

Costner’s Renner, a field agent who has seen too many corpses, is an appealing reject from the opening credits onwards. Dressed like an unassuming Dad, Costner resembles a treasured sweater balled up in the corner of your room. Familiar, neglected, yet dependable. This is one super-agent that isn’t necessarily getting “too old for this shit.” Instead, he’s developed a brain tumor that’s given him only months to live.

As regret sets in, he returns to France to reunite with his estranged wife (Connie Nielsen) and hormonal teenage daughter ( Hailee Steinfeld ). But a mysterious CIA operative named Vivi ( Amber Heard ), seemingly materializing out of thin air, offers him an experimental chemical cocktail that can keep him alive, as long as he completes the botched mission at the film’s start, chasing a Euroscum terrorist who goes by the name The Albino, and who now hides among the French.

Not much of the plot makes any sense. Why recruit Renner when Heard’s mysterious and well-armed Vivi seems to constantly be within walking distance of all the film’s action sequences? Heard, like Nielsen and Steinfeld, keeps weaving in and out of the film whenever she’s needed, never providing an actual distraction from Ethan’s spy work. The constant but non-obtrusive inclusion of old home movies within the narrative just serve to further skew that time is an amorphous concept at the heart of the film. The three days are in the title, but the movie might as well take place over 10. Renner’s condition further clouds matters, as he slips in and out of consciousness freely: considering the name of the film, this picture offers almost no immediacy whatsoever. Even The Albino is simply being pursued not because of his nefarious plans, but because he’s merely hanging out, waiting to “do villainy.”

This works because director McG has finally stopped caring what other people think of him. No studio filmmaker has been more desperate to be liked than the man who brought us two candy-colored Charlie’s Angels movies. His career reached a nadir with would-be blockbuster Terminator: Salvation , where he ditched his bright pop-art savvy by attempting to ape the aesthetic of war-torn villages. It came across as a Neiman Marcus Apocalypse of immaculate shanties and excessive scarves.

The director tried to make a complete reversal with his last film, This Means War , but watching that film was like walking down an aisle at Target where there’s nothing you can imagine buying. His superficiality has always been a gift: here it manifests in the film’s pervasive movie-ness. Despite leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, you still register hope that Renner can heed everyone’s advice and slide into a nice suit at some point.

Part of that comes from Costner, the greatest movie star that McG has worked with thus far. No actor of his generation has looked more comfortable in front of a camera quite like the aging, sleepy-eyed lothario. The camera pans across his wrinkles the way your fingertips would glide across leather. Nielsen, who herself still looks magnificent as well, doesn’t have much of a character to play. But when she and Costner lock eyes, it’s magnetic. McG is very clearly leering when she strips to her nightgown. It doesn’t matter: you only notice Costner’s wolfish stare, and undo your top button. Heard doesn’t generate the same chemistry, but she’s one of the few actresses in Hollywood who can come across like she’s trying too hard and still radiate intense eroticism.

As a part of the same commercial- and music-video-brat world that produced David Fincher and Jonathan Glazer, McG still lacks the attention span to assemble a complete movie. The edits to trim this to a PG-13 are sloppy, and the picture’s final 10 minutes are complete nonsensical gibberish.

McG is a pop filmmaker, if ultimately not a nuanced one. But he excels with broad gestures. When Renner’s daughter alters his IPhone to play Icona Pop’s I Love It when she calls, it is a touching cultural exchange between two people struggling to find common ground. And a sequence where a mildly optimistic Renner follows up a father-daughter conversation with a bike ride across Paris is transcendent. The Movie Star was thought dead because The Filmmakers tried to kill them, trapping them within a sea of edits, massive over-coverage, and special effects. But when McG examines Costner’s worriless face as he casually pedals across Paris, smirking and letting the moment wash over him, it suggests that death was premature.

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• DVD & Streaming

3 Days to Kill

• Action/Adventure , Comedy , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• February 21, 2014
• Kevin Costner as Ethan Renner; Amber Heard as Vivi Delay; Hailee Steinfeld as Zoey Renner; Connie Nielsen as Christine Renner; Tómas Lemarquis as The Albino; Richard Sammel as The Wolf; Marc Andréoni as Mitat Yilmaz

Home Release Date

• May 20, 2014

Distributor

• Relativity Media

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

Work can be such a killer.

Take Ethan Renner’s job, for example. He’s a pretty great employee, sure—one of the best. For 32 years, he’s worked diligently for the CIA and has shown a talent for making a (quite literal) killing. Oh, he’s not the cleanest of employees: He leaves some of his job sites littered with bodies. But he’s exactly what the CIA looks for in a covert assassin—and he’s never taken a sick day in his life.

But it’s not exactly a 9-to-5 job, and all the late-night emergencies and occasional bullet wounds have taken a toll on Ethan’s family life. His wife barely speaks to him. And he does little more than call his teen daughter, Zoey, every year on her birthday. Frankly, he has a better relationship with his gun.

Then, after a mission goes awry, Ethan gets some very grave news. He has terminal cancer, he’s told, and just three months to live. Five, if he’s lucky.

Impending death has a way of putting your priorities in order. And while Ethan’s been on a first-name basis with death for a while now, this is different. All the years he spent on the job suddenly seem less rewarding somehow, and he heads to Paris to see his wife and kid—to patch things up as best he can. Whatever time he has left, Ethan wants to spend it with them.

Before he can get to work a-patching, though, he’s approached by a beautiful and ruthless CIA operative, Vivi, who has one more job for him to do. She wants him to take out notoriously evil weapons dealer Wolfgang Braun—aka The Wolf—and his cadre of collaborators. The carrot? An experimental drug that could prolong Ethan’s rapidly dwindling life.

“The question is—kill or die?” Vivi says.

Decisions, decisions …

Positive Elements

Ethan is not a good guy. He knows it. We know it. The movie even knows it. But at least he kinda wants to be a good guy. A good husband and father, for starters. And it’s that odd dichotomy between his roles as governmental assassin and struggling dad that 3 Days to Kill wants to poke and prod a bit.

When Ethan interrogates the bad guys, for instance, he’s more interested in asking for fatherly advice than shocking out evil secrets. And he never fails to pick up one of Zoey’s calls—even if he’s in the middle of a job. If he’s about to kidnap someone, the baddie just has to wait when Zoey calls up and asks to spend a little time with her dad.

And how does Ethan spend that time with Zoey? He teaches her how to dance and ride a bike. He consoles her when her hair misbehaves. And when she sneaks out of the house to go clubbing, he rescues her from trouble and even bothers to reprimand her for disobeying him. He’s trying to make up for lost time, and though Zoey’s a hard sell (after so many years of neglect, how could she not be?), Ethan works to win her over. When wife Christine sees how hard he’s trying, she finds herself softening toward her estranged hubby as well.

The movie doesn’t suggest it’s easy to reunite after so much time and hurt. This is a long and sometimes painful process, and it doesn’t end when 3 Days does. But everyone involved believes it’s worth the bother.

Ethan also finds the time to shelter a family of squatters who’ve taken over his Parisian flat. Though their presence adds a new level of discomfort to his job requirements (it’s difficult, for instance, to interrogate someone in the bathroom with little ones in the living room), they eventually reach an understanding. And when the woman gives birth to a new baby, they name her after Ethan.

Spiritual Elements

A question is asked about whether someone is a Muslim.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Vivi comes across as less CIA operative than Bond girl. She dresses provocatively, flirts with Ethan constantly and in one scene holds court in a “high-class” strip club, where two topless dancers (critical body parts obscured by fog or obstructions) make out with each other.

Vivi lets Ethan see up her dress when he’s very sick. He responds with, “Am I in hell?” And he rejects all of Vivi’s advances, still very much in love with his wife. We later see him kiss Christine passionately; there’s an implication that they sleep together again.

While clubbing, Zoey’s forced into a men’s restroom and surrounded by three guys who suggestively/forcibly touch her leg and the bottom of her skimpy, shoulder-baring dress. (She’s saved when her father barges in and starts banging heads.) In another scene, Zoey and her older boyfriend kiss. (We can infer that the two of them might be having sex.)

We see others kiss and make out in a sleazy-looking tattoo parlor. And a naked woman is shown getting a tattoo. (We see her back and part of her backside.)

Somebody cracks a  Brokeback Mountain joke.

Violent Content

Ethan’s called into the principal’s office after Zoey slugs a classmate. “No matter what she has to contend with in life,” the principal tells them, “violence is not an acceptable answer.”

Well. When they get in his car afterward, Ethan tells his daughter he’s proud of her for physically standing up for her friend, and he gives her advice on how to better sock someone. Because in Ethan’s line of work, violence is always an acceptable answer.

Need proof? Driving a car, Ethan smashes into another to send it flying off a bridge. (People stagger away or are pulled to safety.) He seems to have a thing for feet, too. He shoots one guy in the foot and stabs another there. He tortures people by ripping duct tape off their bodies and connecting their ear lobes to auto batteries. He stuffs folks in the back of a car (sometimes punching them if they get too loud) and tapes them to things in his bathroom.

Cars crash. A hotel explodes. Shootouts send bystanders running in panic, as do chaotic car chases. An unconscious unfortunate is dragged to an elevator shaft and left to have her head crushed by an oncoming elevator car. Another person is seriously wounded when the elevator he’s riding crashes down to the bottom of the shaft. Still another is thrown in front of a speeding metro train. People are beaten badly, tossed into bathroom and kitchen fixtures (leaving them unconscious), pulled from automobiles and heaved off building tops.

People often bear the residue of injury, be they bruises or streaks of blood on their faces. Ethan’s cancer medicine is administered via huge hypodermic needle, which we see getting jabbed into his arm. He sometimes bleeds from his nose, staggers around and faints, either because of his cancer or the medicine. (Inconveniently, such episodes always seem to strike when he’s running after someone.)

Crude or Profane Language

Two f-words (along with a few more that are suggested and/or nearly uttered), a half-dozen or more s-words and a handful of other bad words, including “a‑‑,” “b‑‑ch,” “d‑‑n” and “h‑‑‑.” God’s name is misused nearly 10 times (once with the aforementioned “d‑‑n”), and Jesus’ name is abused four or five times. Ethan calls some bad guys “turds.”

Drug & Alcohol Content

Ethan’s medication makes him hallucinate and freak out, particularly when his heart rate is accelerated—side effects that Vivi says can be combatted with shots of vodka. We see Ethan drink straight from the bottle in Christine’s flat before he finds himself a glass, and again guzzles from a bottle at a club. He and others drink wine and champagne.

Vivi smokes cigarettes. It’s suggested that Zoey was drugged at the club.

Other Noteworthy Elements

Zoey admits that she lies a lot, and we see her do it. Like father, like daughter, it would seem, since Ethan also keeps his share of secrets—not telling Zoey that he’s sick, and not confessing to his wife that he’s still working for the CIA (a job she desperately wants him to quit).

As Ethan tries to become a better man in the short time he has left, he realizes that promises are important and the time spent with loved ones even more so. We do see growth in the guy, and that’s great.

As 3 Days to Kill tries to become a better movie, we can see the effort it makes to keep its curious comedy thriller self at a PG-13 rating. We hear two f-words (instead of, say, 20), we see near-nudity (instead of full), we see unremitting violence and a somewhat stylized high body count (instead of graphic gore).

But the film has more the heart of the pretty-but-ruthless Vivi than the wanna-be-better Ethan. This is a slick, chilly, sometimes nonsensical diversion, meant to pepper audiences with action and violence and sensuality. And it makes no apologies for that. When a snooty principal voices her belief that real-life violence can be influenced by “violent images in popular culture,” it doesn’t read like a sincere speculation. It feels like a dig at those of us who believe just that.

No one’s saying 3 Days to Kill will alone inspire someone to be an assassin or thug, of course. Just that there are far better ways to kill a little time.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Kevin costner, amber heard, hailee steinfeld, connie nielsen, tómas lemarquis, richard sammel, latest stories, weekend box office wrap up: march 9th, 2014, weekend box office wrap up: march 2nd, 2014, 2014 winter movie preview: the movies, trailers & release dates.

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