‘Survivor’ DVD Review: This Weak Action Film Could Use Less Guns, More Story

Survivor starring Pierce Brosnan (Tomorrow Never Dies), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil), Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story), Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett (American Horror Story), Robert Forster (Heroes) and James D’Arcy (Jupiter Ascending) is an action packed film that you won’t want to miss but undoubtedly will.

Survivor Movie Review

Kate Abbott (Jovovich) is a Foreign Service Officer who finds herself evading government capture and death by a ruthless assassin known only by the name of Nash (Brosnan). She becomes suspicious of certain requests to enter the United States and takes it upon herself to find the truth only to be immediately blacklisted and wanted dead. Nash, known for his bomb making, sets one up at a restaurant Abbott is attending with co-workers. However, she departs and isn’t killed during the blast. This sets Nash on a quest to finish the job and kill Abbott.

Brosnan has a small role, and was clearly used for his name. He appears is in a dark shadow for most of the film and rarely speaks. Bassett is also only in a few scenes. Survivor is action packed from the very beginning which is refreshing, no time was wasted in showing the audience the severity of issues at hand. However, the terrorists in this film don’t seem to have any concrete objective except to show the American people what pain is. We are given only a small insight into the motivation of these men and if we had been given more Survivor could have been more than just an action film. There are plenty of guns, chases, and misunderstanding in Survivor, but not enough story. It even seems as if the character of Kate Abbott was just a way to spin the movie. While she is described as being the best in her field, her actions seems way too flimsy for the praise, and she doesn’t appear particularly engaging. The fact that she is the focus at all is intriguing in and of itself.

What I found was that the story was hidden in the special features of the DVD. The deleted scenes held all the slow and explanative moments that I was looking for during the film. At only 96 minutes Survivor could have given its audience less booms and more story.