The world of thrillers does not cease to amaze its fans. The film "Mercenary", reviews of which will be the main topic of today's material, has caused a number of discussions not only among the audience, but also on the sidelines of critics. There is a justification for this, because the plot, which in theory was supposed to capture the viewer for the entire viewing period, could not cope with the task.
Plot
The story, directed by Michael Cuesta, revolves around a young man recruited by a CIA agent. Having lost his beloved girl who died as a result of a terrorist act, he is obsessed with revenge. The guy is training hard, disappearing in the gym and dash to confront the culprits, even alone. True, seeing such zeal, the special services entrust him with an operation to investigate a number of attacks on civilian and military installations of the United States. The only condition is to work together with a partner who will restrain a young agent obsessed with a sense of revenge and justice. By the way, the movie "Mercenary", reviews of which we will consider below, is a novelty, because it was released in 2017.
Two camps of spectators
There are a lot of opinions regarding the above-mentioned film by Michael Cuest, but to facilitate the perception of numerous responses, we decided to streamline them and came to the conclusion that they can all be divided into two very specific positions.
- Positive point. It is worth saying that almost 40% of the viewers' audience liked the acting game of Dylan O'Brien (the main actor of the film). The audience noted that he coped quite well with the tasks assigned to him, which largely hid the simple and familiar plot, which had long been beaten up. According to reviews of the movie "Mercenary" (from the positive category), we can conclude that the creative approach of the actors looks advantageous in this perspective.
- Reasonable indignation. For the humor, which even one can hardly classify as ordinary, many viewers reproached the directorial work of Michael Cuest. In some places in the film there are attempts by Cuest and actors to create irony, but they are perceived as weak attempts to amuse the audience, but nothing more. Of course, in the thriller, humor is not the main thing. It may even be absent in such a genre, but if situations are given that require it, then you need to think through them well. You won't surprise anyone with commonplace standards. By the way, the second fly in the ointment among the negative audience responses was the high-profile name of the picture, which, according to the audience, did not fully justify itself. Reviews of the movie "Mercenary", which was declared as a spy thriller, indicate that this picture does not reach this loud title. "Mercenary" only vaguely resembles spy sagas, and also can not boast of a bewitching cunning combination of events inherent in high-quality thriller.
Many note that the plus of the 2017 movie “Mercenary”, reviews of which we are analyzing today, is the overall atmosphere of the picture. No matter how the film is reproached, but the spirit of anxiety and immersion in hopelessness is definitely present here.
Professional views
The opinions of people who are rightly considered experts in the field of cinema are negative or restrained in most cases about the movie "Mercenary". So, out of 100 points according to the version of the Metacritic website, the film scored only 45. Many professionals noticed that the film was not finalized in terms of ideas. In particular, this concerns the issue of revenge of the protagonist. Reviews of the movie "Mercenary" (2017) among professional film critics boiled down to the fact that the director's work was regarded as "too simple", with a banal plot. As for the genre, here critics noted the lack of interesting puzzles and ups and downs of the plot, which are so famous for spy militants and thrillers.
Finally
"Mercenary", the reviews of the audience about which are mixed and contradictory, is worth a look, because many of the shortcomings for the inhabitants are hidden by a good acting cast, as well as good effects. In this regard, the film deserves respect. The film did not meet the director's expectations due to the fact that he could not bring huge profits for the premiere season. $ 33 million was spent on its creation, and only “Mercenary” earned 66. By the way, Vince Flynn's book American Assassin was in great demand among readers than its adaptation.