Outside the Wire is an American science fiction film directed by Mikael Håfström. It stars Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Emily Beecham, Michael Kelly, and Pilou Asbæk in main roles. It was released on 15th January 2021 on Netflix.
Set in the future 2036, the military interference of the Russian forces and commandos leads the US to station their forcekeeping forces there. Now when a team of US Marines and their Gumps, the robotic soldiers, are entrapped during an operation, Lt. Thomas Harp (Damson Idris) fires a missile against the enemy launcher, killing their own two but saving 38. But as he disobeyed the direct order, for punishment, he's sent to Camp Nathaniel, Ukraine, a US camp where he reports himself to Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie). Leo reveals to Harp that he is a highly advanced android and is working in the military. Leo tells him that he has chosen him to come to a mission with Leo to prevent a Russian terrorist Victor Koval (Pilou Asbæk) from gaining control over a network of missiles that could kill millions. But for that, they had to first deliver vaccines to a refugee camp as a cover. Will they be able to save mankind? That's the crux of the story.
The story is by Rob Yescombe and the screenplay is by Rob Yescombe and Rowan Athale. The film is unnecessarily long and almost takes more than 45 minutes to get to track. And when it get to its track, it's cliched, the scenes, the dialogues everything. And yes, so much f---ing word has been used, don't know why. The first interesting thing was that when Leo uncovers himself as a prototype of a highly-advanced android.
After that, it slugs and slugs and slugs with many unneeded characters are also appearing like that of Emily Beecham as Sofiya. The action sequences are a delight to see but are not thrilling or exciting. I thought it to be like two bros on a mission like Bad Boys, but that lame twist ruins all at the climax. It's not boring but it's not intriguing either to sit through this overlong 2 hours movie. There is no spark in the characters and appears just bland with some good VFX at the back which slightly makes you forget that the characters and the story are so hollow.
What to say about the performance!! Anthony Mackie and Damson Idris as Leo and Harp, being the poster boys of Outside the Wire fails to deliver an electrifying performance that was required. The sound of the bullets was more impressive than their shallow performances. Others like Emily Beecham as Sofiys, Michael Kelly as Col. Eckhart, and Pilou Asbæk as Victor Koval also fail to leave their mark as they are hardly given any screentime and also because of their half baked characters.
The cinematography by Michael Bonvillain is terrific. The fight sequences, the big wide shots of the ruins are a treat to see. The production design by Kevin Phipps is outstanding and the Music by Lorne Balfe is also impressive. The editing by Rickard Krantz is very poor.
Outside The Wire directed by Mikael Håfström is definitely not the action movie you wanna spend your precious two hours on. The film fails to engage you fully and the uneven pace of the film is also its biggest drawback. The characters are not strong, the scenes and dialogues are cliched and the action scenes are not at all electrifying, given, you see big robotic soldiers and big guns and weapons that have been shot on a massive scale. It's just a good looking film and not more than that.
Rating:- 2/5
Now streaming on Netflix.
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