It has been over two weeks now that I have not had the time to watch a movie. Work has been hectic. It is that time of the year, when accounts are balanced, projects are finalised, and new recruits are employed for the upcoming new year.
Yesterday, I was super excited that my Christmas break has started . I can finally watch any movie I want at any time of the day. So I got to finally see the Kate Becksinale’s *”Canary Black (2024)”*. This movie has been on my list for way too long, considering that Kate is one of my favorite actors. I always see her movies no matter how long it takes me.
*”Canary Black”* is a British action-thriller spy film that was directed by Pierre Morel and written by Matthew Kennedy. It was distributed by Amazon MGM Studios with cinematography done by Thierry Arbogast. This movie starred Kate Beckinsale, Rupert Friend, Ray Stevenson, Jaz Hutchins, Goran Kostic, Ben Miles, Romina Tonkovic, Masayoshi Haneda, and Michael Brandon along with others.
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The plot of this movie is very straightforward. It's a plot we have seen written and produced many times. There are no perks to this plot, it's decent and just entertaining. Though, I wished the writer of this movie twisted and moulded the plot of the movie in a unique way that would be intriguing and thrilling to its audience. Then Kate would take the spotlight like she always does in any of her movies. Well let's briefly talk about the plot.
Avery Graves a CIA agent who lives as a deadly assassin and a loving wife to her husband, David. Avery came home to spend the 3rd anniversary of her marriage with her husband. The night well, they exchanged anniversary gifts and Avery later checks into work with her handler Jarvis. They spoke of Kenji, who was using a business facade to ship arms to terrorists and a pending problem that needs to be solved.
Afterwards, Avery retired home to her second. Upon getting home, she discovered that her home was trashed, and her husband was nowhere to be found. She then found a burner phone on a table in which she received a call from a terrorist instructing her to retrieve a Canary Black file by midnight and tell where and whom to get from or her husband dies. This *”Canary Black file”* in question is the possession of a detainee Laszlo Stoica who is in the custody of a well secured blacksite of the CIA.
Avery then started hunting for the file, but in the process of finding the file. To get her hand on this file, she'd turn against her agency and bridged national security. In doing this, she became compromised according to the CIA and on the run. Will Avery succeed in setting her husband free and not killed? What exactly is the *”Canary Black file”*? Why must be retrieved by David's captor?
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#### My Review And Rating.
I will not be rating this movie low as many of its viewers didn't. Regardless of its many flaws and failures, I say that this movie is still entertaining and fun to watch. Though it is obvious that most of the flaws in this movie were as a result of weak directorial style from Pierre Morel.
I was disappointed with the directorial style of the movie because my expectations were high considering Pierre was the director of the fantastic movie Taken which starred Liam Neeson. Also, I felt bad that this movie was Ray Stevenson's last film. To me deserved a better send off than this mediocre spy thriller movie. Ray made the world of spy, thriller, and crime intriguing and interesting for us. He deserved an Oscar award winning movie for last appearance in the film industry.
In this movie, the audience/viewers were not allowed to think for themselves because the plot writer didn't leave room for that. The plot was so predictable that the one mystery that was supposed to make this movie intriguing was actually kind of predictable. Also, Kate seemed off for me. Her acting was good, don't get me wrong but I couldn't really connect with this Kate like I did with the previous Kate from her other films. Some of the scenes, and little details that should have been realistic and convincing were not.
Some of the good things I enjoyed about this movie are the smooth action scenes. Kate's performance was awesome for a 51 year old woman who has passed her prime. Exceptional action films are difficult to make and satisfy the audience. I appreciate the little plot twist that was attached to David's character. For me, I couldn't predict that. It was good and well done. I got emotional when Jarvis’ character was resolved. I want Jarvis to have a happy ending but not all characters have a happy ending.
It was a faced past movie, with good cinematic experience and scene arrangements. The cast were fantastic. They all brought their characters to life. I enjoyed this movie regardless of the flaws I mentioned above. It was a fun watch but then I wish it was much better.
Rating this movie, I will give it 6.8 out 10 stars. It was good and fun to watch. Kate always makes a movie to watch regardless of the storyline of the movie. I really enjoyed this one from Kate. I recommend this movie to spy/thriller lovers and Kate’s fans.
https://youtu.be/tSaw2HTVSsA?si=R25CXoN5xq8EYGB0
*All images above are from the movie screenshots*
*[Poster image source](https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Canary_Black-770630228-large.jpg)*
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