Reviews of The Vigil and Outside the Wire
Reviews of The Vigil and Outside the Wire
Outside the Wire (2021) Dir. Mikael Håfström
In 2036 a civil war rages in Eastern Europe and drone pilot Lt. Thomas Harp (Damson Idris) breaks orders to deploy a bomb and as punishment is subsequently assigned into the care of Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie). Leo turns out to be a highly advanced android super-soldier (quite) and together they are tasked with heading out on a mission to prevent a terrorist (Pilou Asbæk as Victor Koval) gaining control of missile silos. The first third sets up an intriguing world and whilst no Blade Runner, heck it’s not even Chappie, the film sets its story in motion with two good performances. The film also provides the appropriate amount of back-story which is efficient, and the characters’ understandable motivations help push things along too.
The duo are also a good foil for one another, with Mackie’s blunt Captain squaring off against the mouthy recruit in his charge. But haphazard cutting (think Taken 3’s abundance of awful montages) and frankly incomprehensible crossing the camera line edits, the at-times impressive set pieces are lost amongst a cacophony of spatially confused action that perplexes at times as to where anyone is. As it progresses, the familiar beats play out with secret contacts, duplicitous agents and robotic fire fights and at the end of a big action finale I was pleased it ended. BUT NO! Checking my watch, it turned out there were 50 more minutes of this left! Long, messy and including some half-baked explorations of the ethics of war, Outside the Wire seemed to set itself up as a sci-fi Training Day but its final delivery is ultimately as forgettable as they come. ★★½
Michael Sales
