Butleeerrr!
Gerard Butler does what he does best for the second time in 2023, this time in a trashy time-waster.
Kandahar
Director: Ric Roman Waugh • Writer: Mitchell LaFortune
Starring: Gerard Butler, Navid Negahban, Bahador Foladi, Travis Fimmel, Ali Fazal, Nina Toussaint-White, Hakeem Jomah
USA • 1hr 59mins
Opens Hong Kong September 7 • IIB
Grade: B-
Tell me if you’ve seen this: An impeccably trained, special forces-type dude finds himself in a warzone with his translator, and must get himself and his colleague out of said warzone by crossing hostile, rocky territory. There are many beards involved and a great deal of sand. No, this is not The Covenant, but close. It’s Kandahar, the latest Gerard Butler action diversion that, as usual, puts our beloved G.But in a position for some righteous saviour shit. Re-teaming with a very workmanlike Ric Roman Waugh, his director on Greenland and Angel Has Fallen, G.But is reliably sturdy as the almost everyman Tom Harris, a “good guy” terrorist, working in the Iran/Afghanistan/India/Pakistan border region. As has been well documented, this is a fraught region.
Make no mistake. Kandahar is pretty trashy; The Covenant is a better constructed film, but Waugh’s spin is a relatively entertaining diversion. Writer Mitchell LaFortune’s biggest contribution is in toning down the rah-rah heroics of it all and switching up the narrative we’re used to, and painting everyone involved as more resigned to their grim, often murderous, frequently offensive jobs. This despite the fact he tosses logic right out the window on more than one occasion. Seriously. How do these people get around these giant deserts (performed by wannabe Hollywood player Saudi Arabia) with one tank of gas? At those speeds. Amazing.
Yup. It’s a beardy movie
Harris, a loaner to the CIA from MI6, is in Iran working on a way to blow up the country’s nuclear programme when he gets a call from his handler, Roman (Travis Fimmel, Warcraft, HBO’s Westworld) to do one last job. He has to get back to London for his neglected daughter’s graduation, etc and so on, but it’s a lot money – and it’s one last job! Roman puts him with translator Mohammad, or Mo (Navid Negahban, Homeland), who’s been told he’s needed for a simple language job in Herat. He’s a refugee from Afghanistan, and really doesn’t fancy going back for any reason – except maybe to find his sister-in-law. But shit goes sideways when the world’s worst reporter, Luna Cujai (Nina Toussaint-White) – she gives up her sources in about five minutes – is kidnapped and her editor releases details of the story they were working on, about the CIA blowing up Iranian nuclear sites. Cover blown, Tom and Mo have to boot it out of Herat, pronto. Trouble is, Iranian security officer Fazard Asadi (Bahador Foladi), and incredibly coiffed Pakistan ISI agent Nasir (played by Indian actor Ali Fazal, Victoria & Abdul) are also looking for them, as are assorted warlords and Taliban thugs. They’ll get away of course, because Tom is supremely talented at this kind of thing. We’re told so by the American CIA monkeys watching by satellite. “I like this guy. He’s good!” says Hoyt (Corey Johnson). Thanks for that. I hadn’t noticed.
The good character intentions can only go so far though; Kandahar is goofy as all get out. Never mind the gas problem, the film cleaves closely to action beats and a conventional three act structure, and it’s very on the nose in its “What are we doing here?” rhetoric. In case you didn’t get it, the CIA is wrong to be blowing shit up in someone else’s country, and the Taliban are painfully misguided and under-informed in their mission to purify Afghanistan. Pakistan has no right to meddle. It’s nice that no one is a good guy, but it would be nicer if there were more depth and consideration to the script. Nasir, or someone like him, probably makes sense vis-à-vis modern geopolitics but the badass super-spy presented here flirts with comic relief. The only thing holding him back is Fazal’s own restraint and good taste. Still, this is right in G.But’s wheelhouse, and aside from his and Fazal’s performances, the rest of the cast is way, way better than the material they’re given. There are, naturally, also a couple of standout action set pieces that will wake you up: a night vision helicopter chase and the final dash for the British transport plane to safety. Oddly, Kandahar should be commended for recognising the multiple clashing factions working in the region and the multiple governments with so-called “interests” in the area that have very little to do with what’s right, economic justice or equality for women. It recognises them. No one said anything about deep thoughts on them. — DEK
*Kandahar was reviewed during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, it wouldn't exist.