CIA Agent Bill Pope is on a mission to track down a shadowy hacker named 'The Dutchman'. When he gets mysteriously killed, an experimental procedure transfers his memories into a dangerous ex-convict. When he wakes up Pope's memories, his mission is to eliminate The Dutchman before the hacker launches ICBMs and starts World War III.
Neither scriptwriters Douglas Cook and David Weisberg nor Vromen in the director's chair are subtle enough to figure out how to do both action and character.
– Kate Taylor,
Globe and Mail,
15 Apr 2016
fresh:
Criminal is an action-thriller with a science fiction twist. To the extent that its purpose is to energize and involve an audience, it succeeds.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
17 Apr 2016
rotten:
All the ingredients are there for a pleasant pander to grumpy old white men: the craggy actors, the foreign bad guys wielding confusing technology, the kindness of beautiful young women, and the nobility of sacrifice.
– Matthew Lickona,
San Diego Reader,
21 Apr 2016
fresh:
The movie is a little more fun than it has any right to be, thanks to its super-serious cast (including Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, and Gal Gadot) and the straight-faced approach to its ridiculous shenanigans.
– Bruce Diones,
New Yorker,
25 Apr 2016
fresh:
Costner, in full badass mode, makes this crackpot premise work.