MOMENTUM (Stephen S. Campanelli). 96 minutes. Opens Friday (October 16). See listings. Rating: NN
Where to watch: iTunes
If you’re going to call your movie Momentum, it really ought to move.
Instead, this generic actioner – starring Olga Kurylenko as a woman with a past on the run from a sinister government operative – is a series of dull cat-and-mouse chases and confrontations, offering no twists or surprises or even an interesting spin on the usual formula.
Kurylenko glowers admirably as Alex, introduced as a criminal with a moral code during a Cape Town bank heist. When she stops a comrade from killing hostages, her identity is exposed, leading a U.S. senator (Morgan Freeman) to dispatch the nasty Mr. Washington (James Purefoy) to hunt her down.
The pursuit takes up pretty much the entire movie, as Alex races to stay a step ahead of Mr. Washington – though “races” is pretty generous, as screenwriters Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan (Texas Chainsaw 3D) structure the story as a series of stops and starts. Alex goes somewhere to hide, and Mr. Washington shows up to kill whichever of Alex’s friends is with her while Alex escapes.
(There’s also a bag of diamonds with a mysterious secret, because there’s always a bag of diamonds with a mysterious secret in these movies.)
Director Stephen S. Campanelli, I am told, has been Clint Eastwood’s camera operator for 20 years. Good for him.
