In 2006 Congo, Jim (Penn) is a humanitarian worker with hot doctor girlfriend Annie (Trinca), but he's secretly part of a mercenary commando force with Cox, Felix and DuPont (Rylance, Bardem and Elba). After a big mission, Jim goes into hiding, while Felix sweeps in to "take care of" Annie. Eight years later someone is trying to kill Jim, so he travels to London to find Cox, then Barcelona where he meets Felix and his now-wife Annie. Finally it's to Gibraltar, where DuPont helps Jim fill in the bigger picture of what's at stake now.

It doesn't take long to realise that the wartorn-Africa aspect of the story is just a red herring, using an important issue as an excuse to indulge in rampant action-movie grisliness. Presumably this is the part of the screenplay Penn was involved in, because the rest of the movie is achingly dim-witted, lurching from one contrived ambush to another. The constantly shifting settings are intriguing, right up to the climactic showdown in a bullfighting ring, but the action choreography is predictably gimmicky and unnecessarily brutal.

Penn is fine, showing off his lean, muscled body in a couple of appallingly cuddly sex scenes. But the character never makes sense: Jim is afflicted with a superfluous brain injury that strikes at precisely the wrong moment every time, and yet he can still out-think and out-fight all of his more youthful opponents. Superb British actors Rylance, Winstone and Elba add some oomph, as does the reliably shadowy Bardem, but all of the characters are annoyingly inconsistent.

As the film darts around Europe and deepest, darkest Congo, Morel skilfully builds a growing sense of urgency through the shady business dealings and dodgy politics. But the emphasis on the story's least compelling elements leaves the movie feeling both vacuous and more than a little dull. Every nasty gunfight pushes the audience away from the real story rather than pulling us into it. And the choppy final scenes leave us feeling like we've been had.

themes, language, violence

6.Mar.15