Kandahar Review - No Depth, No Thrill, No Soul

Ric Roman Waugh's geopolitical action drama, Kandahar, stars Gerard Butler and Ali Fazal as the two opposite sides. The CIA spy dramas have seen a lot of things over the years, but hardly one or two films could manage to bring that superb thrill. Kandahar is neat, but not thrilling. It has a plot that looks reliable—I mean, nothing superficial or out of the world, but a decent story line, which is faltered by a damaged screenplay. When you prepare yourself to watch a spy action drama, you expect some thrilling moments and a lot of explosions one after another. Kandahar gives you the explosions, on a large scale too, but the chill and thrill are missing. It's a rough and soulless film in that sense, even though the writing does not cause any alarm.Kamdahar is about a freelance CIA undercover officer, Tom Harris (Gerard Butler), who enters the nuclear testing centre in Iran as a technician. His mission is successful as he manages to destroy the facility, but his problems begin from there. Tom travels to Kandahar and meets his friend, Mo (Navid Negahban). Soon, they are on the radar of Iranians and a Pakistani agent, Kahil (Ali Fazal), who continue chasing him throughout the film. Kandahar is all about this cat and mouse game, as Tom continues to sneak away with every step (that's so predictable). The Talibanis join the search operation, and it is later revealed in the climax that the CIA is also keeping an eye on this entire operation. Will he be able to get away from these dangerous people?Kandahar rides on the reliability of global affairs, which are quite well known nowadays. But as a film, it is extremely tedious. Despite a standard runtime of two hours, the film throws you into a snooze fest. The action isn't exciting, the thrill disappears sooner than expected, the emotional entanglement isn't quite good, and the entire plot is put down by a sloppy screenplay. Kandahar could have been an engaging affair with a story like this, but maybe the outrageous use of cinematic liberty has filled our minds with such things that we can't really digest a slow burner in an action zone. The same film in a non-action zone would have felt better, I guess. Look at other spy thrillers of recent times; they have so many twists and turns that even a new one seems like an old one. Kandahar just didn't try anything on that front so that you could have a nice nap during the watch.Gerard Butler is quite a busy man nowadays, as he is acting in films and also producing them. His dedication to projects is indeed commendable. I just wish he would try something out of the box, be it his looks, character, or transformation. That wow factor is always missing in the roles he plays. Tom might be a little boring, but he is a steady man. Ali Fazal springs a nice surprise as an ISI agent. It's not because I am an Indian, but it's good to see an Indian actor getting such a powerful role in an American film. Ali is decent, but the character and screen space are indeed surprising. Navid Negahban has impressed me with Aladdin, and I was thinking about that while watching Kandahar. He has that gritty look, which suits the character he plays. Navid as Mo Doud is a perfect fit for an Afghani character. The supporting cast of Bahador Foladi, Mark Arnold, Nina Toussaint-White, Vassilis Koukalani, Corey Johnson, and Tom Rhys Harries has done justice to the characters, even though the characters haven't done justice to their acting skills.Kandahar's cinematography has been fine throughout the film, in spite of those pallor pauses. Most of the film is shot in deserts, and those long shots do look gorgeous. Sadly, I couldn't see them on the big screen. Overall, Miguel Olasa's camerawork is satisfying, but seriously, I hated those long cuts of driving cars. Colby Parker Jr.'s editing is at fault here. Kandahar, being a two-hour film, should have been a busy film, but is it even half of what one would expect? The answer is no. The background music and sound design didn't hurt my ears a bit, and so I thank them. From a stuntman to a film director, Ric Roman Waugh, has come a long way. But I am surprised to see that he did not give us enough action stunts in this film. Except for a tedious narrative, Kandahar lacks nothing big, but I believe such a globally important topic could have had a little more depth and soul. As a whole, a promising flick destroyed by clueless storytelling.