Mission Kandahar

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh, Mission Kandahar follows freelance CIA operative Tom Harris (Gerard Butler) as he’s forced to go on the run after his cover is blown in Afghanistan. It’s a reasonable setup that’s employed to increasingly tiresome and downright interminable effect by Waugh, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Mitchell LaFortune, delivers an erratically-paced endeavor that slowly-but-surely wears out the goodwill afforded by its strong opening sequence and typically solid Butler turn – with the picture progressing into slapdash midsection that contains few, if any, attributes designed to sustain the viewer’s dwindling attention. The movie’s pervasively underwhelming and uninvolving atmosphere is perpetuated by its continuing emphasis on thinly-developed, entirely lackluster subplots, as Waugh proves unable to infuse most of Mission Kandahar‘s multiple narrative threads with elements or characters of a compelling nature – which does, in turn, prevent the viewer from working up much interest in or enthusiasm for any of this. And while the film’s third act admittedly contains a small handful of effective action sequences, all of which are rendered moot by the thoroughly tedious vibe, Mission Kandahar‘s has long-since cemented its place as a completely misguided failure that squanders a promising premise and charismatic lead performance.

* out of ****