• Consequence
  • Music
  • Film
  • TV
  • Heavy
Menu Consequence
Menu Shop Search Sale
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Live
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
Advertisement
  • Reviews
  • Film Reviews

Film Review: Survivor

D

Directed by

  • James McTeigue

Starring

  • Paddy Wallace
  • Parker Sawyers
  • Bashar Rahal
  • Royce Pierreson

Release Year

  • 2015

Rating

  • PG-13
Advertisement
Don R. Lewis
June 2, 2015 | 5:30pm ET

    In director James McTeigue’s latest film, the laughably implausible Survivor, Milla Jovovich plays Kate Abbott, a Foreign Service Officer whose loss of friends on 9/11 forces her to become the best at sniffing out terrorist plots before they happen. Having recently located to London (because they wanted “the best”), Abbott is immediately thrust into some serious bureaucratic shenanigans that quickly escalate into, you guessed it, a terrorist plot that somehow manages to pin several crimes on her as she flees the streets of London searching for the truth.

    The reason Abbott’s running, however, is that she’s being hunted by the police and, what’s worse, a fixer named Nash (Pierce Brosnan), aka “The Watchmaker.” And while he’s clearly a professional killer of the highest order, Nash just can’t seem to whack Abbott who apparently is either the luckiest person alive when it comes to nearly missed bombs and gunfire, or she has cat ancestry granting her nine lives. Either way, Survivor is a pretty lame and frankly boring thriller that piles on one messy plot twist onto another and has more 9/11 scare analogies than Rudy Giuliani when he’s running for office.

    While we’ve undoubtedly come a long way in terms of accepting video-on-demand titles as often times more worthy than those with the previously scarlet lettered “Direct to DVD” moniker, it’s pretty clear something is off in this film from the get-go when you look at the cast and budget. Along with the aforementioned Brosnan and Jovovich, the film also features Dylan McDermott as Kate’s loyal boss Sam Parker, Angela Bassett as frazzled U.S. Ambassador Maureen Crane, and James D’Arcy as Paul Anderson who is a cop or secret service … or something? All I know for sure is he wears an earpiece and he’s really got it in for Abbott. But much like the bloodthirsty Watchmaker, he just can’t seem to slow her down. The cast is solid and recognizable yet the film was obviously dumped into the overcrowded VOD landscape, never to be heard from again.

    Advertisement
    Related Video

    It’s very cheap looking, too. Every actor here (save Robert Forster, poor guy) looks like they’re either suffocating under five pounds of facial makeup or they were recreated out of wax and automated — it’s as if there was a Botox party during preproduction and things got out of hand. Adding on to that distraction is director McTeigue’s insistence on always having the camera move. Survivor is a film in which the camera moves and moves and moves and, as a result, every sequence looks like something out of a luxury car commercial. Gaudy, overly stylized lighting also doesn’t help much either. But alas, nothing can help a film that doesn’t really know what it’s about and that is ultimately what dooms Survivor. 

    Trailer:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

More on this topic

  • Angela Bassett
  • Dylan McDermott
  • James D’Arcy
  • Milla Jovovich
  • Pierce Brosnan
  • Political
  • Spy
  • Thriller

Sign up for updates

Subscribe to our email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Advertisement

Popular Stories

James Hetfield divorce wife Francesca

Heavy Consequence

Metallica's James Hetfield Files for Divorce from Wife of 25 Years: Report

Musikfest Shooting

Music

Shooting Shuts Down Pennsylvania Festival Musikfest

Let the "Good Times" Roll with Rome & Duddy's CBD & Merch: Order Today

Let the "Good Times" Roll with Rome & Duddy's CBD & Merch: Order Today

Advertisement

alec baldwin rust trigger

Film

The Gun Fired by Alec Baldwin's Rust Set Couldn't Have Gone Off Without Pulling the Trigger, FBI Says

League of Their Own Queer Stories

Features

A League of Their Own's Cast and Creators on Why the Show's Groundbreaking Representation Was "Only Possible Right Now"

Personalized Stories

Around The Web

Latest Stories

C+
Emily the Criminal Review

Review: Aubrey Plaza Breaks Bad in the Tense Thriller Emily the Criminal

August 12, 2022

B-
Day Shift Review Jamie Foxx

Day Shift Review: Jamie Foxx’s Vampire Hunter Movie Boasts Great Fight Scenes and Formulaic Comedic Beats

August 11, 2022

C-
They/Them Review Kevin Bacon

They/Them Review: Kevin Bacon-Starring Slasher Proves Hollow

August 5, 2022

B+
Bodies Bodies Bodies Review A24

Bodies Bodies Bodies Skewers Gen-Z Figuratively and Literally: Review

August 4, 2022

Advertisement

News

  • Music
  • New Music
  • Album Streams
  • Upcoming Releases
  • Film
  • TV
  • Pop Culture
  • Tours

Reviews

  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • Concert Reviews
  • Festival Reviews

Features

  • Editorials
  • Interviews
  • Cover Stories
  • Lists
  • Rankings
  • Artist of the Month
  • Song of the Week

Live

  • Concert Tickets
  • Festival Tickets
  • Festival News
  • Tour Dates
  • Livestreams
  • Music Instruments & Gear

Heavy

  • News
  • Interviews
  • Concerts

More

  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Music Videos
  • Streaming
  • Wellness
  • Giveaways

Other sites

  • Heavy Consequence
  • Consequence Media
  • About
  • Privacy policy
  • Advertising
  • Terms
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Do not sell my personal information

Download our app

  • Get it on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Consequence
Current story

Film Review: Survivor

Menu Shop Search Sale
Consequence
News
  • All News
  • Music
  • New Music
  • Album Streams
  • Upcoming Releases
  • Film
  • TV
  • Pop Culture
  • Tours
Reviews
  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • Concert Reviews
  • Festival Reviews
Features
  • Editorials
  • Interviews
  • Cover Stories
  • Lists
  • Rankings
  • Artist of the Month
  • Song of the Week
  • Giveaways
Live
  • Concert Tickets
  • Festival Tickets
  • Festival News
  • Tour Dates
  • Livestreams
  • Music Instruments & Gear
Podcasts
  • The Opus
  • Kyle Meredith With...
  • Stanning BTS
  • The Story Behind the Song
  • The What
  • Going There with Dr. Mike
  • The Rome and Duddy Show
  • Rootsland
  • This Must Be The Gig
  • Assembly
Videos
  • Interview
  • Video Essay
  • Fan Theories
  • Sole Kitchen
  • Annotated Video
Heavy
  • News
  • Interviews
  • Concerts
  • Premieres
  • Culture
  • Beyond the Boys Club
  • Mining Metal
Shop

Follow Consequence

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Close
Close