Review Outside the Wire (2021): Disappointing!

genre: action, science fiction, netflix original

From the makers of Extraction and The Old Guard was basically all I needed to get excited about this. Not that I was expecting this to be original but at least we would get some kick ass action.

So I thought. Because apparently someone didn't get the memo and went a different direction. They actually tried to turn this average action flick into a sci-fi masterpiece without giving you the substance to sink your teeth in. Then what's the point? There is basically one big action sequence and it had some moments but nowhere near as impressive or cool as those in Extraction for example. And it takes almost a whole hour before this action scene starts. Before this scene there is some shooting and fighting but so negligible I was thinking they probably saved the best for last. Nope. None of that. The ending is the most unimpressive ending since you realized you just wasted two very precious hours of your time. 

And let me be clear, it's not Anthony Mackie's fault. Nor Damson Idris is to blame. They both do their best to make everything watchable and entertaining. Problem is that they are let down by the poor direction and even worse script. Yet it takes two hours for this film to be finished. Extraction might have been a simple story wise. But it managed to be thrilling and action packed to the core. It did so much with so little. The location, the characters. They were different enough to keep things compelling. Outside the Wire is like an Eighties or Nineties throwback to those B type Cold War films always set in some Eastern European nation where everything is grey and bland. Where almost all the people are cold and calculating. Think of every stereotype you can imagine and you will find it. It's like they had this old Eighties script lying around. Changed the date and ethnicities of the main characters and rolled the camera. And you know what I would have been fine with everything stereotype had it brought us the kick ass action I was craving. I mean come one already!

So much more could have been done with the premise if they actually cared about the plot they are presenting. Worse of all is the fact that the action is simply disappointing. That is not what I signed up for. Give it a miss!