The mid budget spy thriller has been a staple of cinema for the longest time, with fast-paced tales of espionage providing incredibly fertile ground for filmmakers to play in. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed quality by virtue of a project’s mere existence, with 2015’s dire Survivor a prime case in point.
On paper, there’s more than enough about the premise and the names attached to deliver a worthwhile addition to a genre that’s long since reached saturation point. A foreign intelligence officer played by action veteran Milla Jovovich is framed for a terrorist attack she had nothing to do with, forcing her to go on the run.
One major problem is the veteran elite assassin on her tail, who happens to be played by former James Bond Pierce Brosnan. Throw in a supporting cast that includes Angela Bassett, Dylan McDermott and Frances de la Tour, with V for Vendetta‘s James McTeigue directing, and surely you’ve got a recipe for success?
In a word, no. Survivor is as uninspired and formulaic as its title, and an 8% Rotten Tomatoes score was pretty much what it deserved. There’s far too much proven talent involved to deliver something so painfully banal, but given that we’re talking about a B-tier actioner with some recognizable faces, the risible dud has still managed to jump eighteen places on the Netflix most-watched list since yesterday, as per FlixPatrol.
