Action-thrillers are crowd-pullers for a reason. Numerous plot twists, the adrenaline rush of witnessing the action on a big screen, nail-biting suspense, and almost inevitable triumph of good over evil… It appeals to even the most risk-averse cinephiles. Throw in scenic locations in obscure parts of Europe, a blue-blooded actor from Hollywood, along with international political intrigue, and you have the makings of a blockbuster. Netflix’s latest action-thriller Beckett promises all this and more, yet fails to deliver.
Beckett, played by a portly and decidedly non-action hero, John David Washington, is vacationing in North Greece with his girlfriend April (Alicia Vikander), sometime during the Obama administration years. On a risky night-time drive across mountainous terrain, their car crashes into a house. April dies on the spot while Beckett miraculously survives with a broken arm.
He also happens to see a young boy and an old woman in the supposedly abandoned house, which he later relates to the police. In this process, quite unknowingly, Beckett stumbles on political subterfuge of international magnitude. So unfolds a cat-and-mouse chase across Greece where the police (Panos Koronis), a skilled hitwoman (Lena Kitsopoulou), and even officers of the American embassy (Boyd Holbrook), attempt to ‘bump him off’ for no apparent reason.
For a mere software engineer with a severely injured body, without access to a phone or any comprehension of the local language, Beckett remarkably survives multiple attacks. And he does this while attempting to figure out why he is being targeted in the first place. Sounds a bit much? It is. The ridiculous plot is akin to an inane Bollywood action film where nothing can touch the ‘hero’ on his mission. But even Bollywood films fare better in comparison because they at least provide a plausible reason for the display of excessive heroics. In Beckett’s case, there is not even a pretence at reason.
The story is the biggest failing of the film, and Washington’s lacklustre acting brings it down further. It is difficult for the audience to establish a connect with his character, as he keeps switching without preamble, from being an astute fighter with excellent reflexes to a grief-stricken mental health patient suffering frequent panic attacks. Overall, we recommend you save your time and stay away from this fiasco, no matter how much of an action lover you are.
BECKETT
Director: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Genre: Action-thriller
Platform: Netflix
Rating: 2/5
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