The Bricklayer movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Bricklayer

This violent action, spy flick is now playing on Amazon Prime.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 50 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: C-

IN A NUTSHELL:

This gritty action flick was directed by Renny Harlin. Writing credits go to Noah Boyd, Matt Johnson, and Marc Moss.

THINGS I LIKED:

Every time I review an Aaron Eckhart movie, I have to mention that one of the reasons I love him is because one of my sons looks a lot like him. They have the same eyes and facial structure. Ha ha
The fight sequences carry a lot of tension and hit HARD, lasting a long time as the stakes get higher and higher. At times, they look and feel like they came out of a video game. Is that good or bad? What do you think?
While the story isn’t exactly fresh, it’s one that action lovers will probably get a kick out of.
We get to see beautiful locations in Greece!
The movie The Beekeeper really runs with the whole bee theme throughout the entire film, including puns and insights; however, this film doesn’t play with the brick puns as much. We see Aaron Eckhart’s character building something with bricks at the beginning and end of the film. He explains that he likes the rules and structure of working with bricks, rather than the chaos of the spy business. After seeing everything his character goes through in the film, you’ll definitely understand why he values those things!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Some of the camerawork in the fight scenes zoomed in too much so that we can’t quite see everything that’s going on.
It’s filled with genre cliches and, ultimately, is very predictable.
There is no chemistry between Eckhart and Nina Dobrev. What a missed opportunity. He naturally oozes chemistry, but her character spent the majority of the movie being cranky and judgmental.
Some of the writing and editing would have benefitted greatly from another passover of the script and time in post-production.
It feels like a January movie…if you know what I mean.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

THEMES:

FUNNY LINES:

“Who’s paying for all this?” – Kate (Nina Dobrev) “Your favorite uncle: Sam.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhert)
“Grizzly Pines, Montana? Is it oceanfront?” – Radek (Clifton Collins Jr.) “Adjacent.” – Vail (Aaron Eckherdt)
“You know what they say about broken men. They never die; they just smell that way.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhert)
“You are the worst spy ever.” – Kate (Nina Dobrev)
“You could have been killed.” – Kate “Wouldn’t be the first time.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhert)
“You kind of set me up to die. That’s kind of a dealbreaker.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhert)

INTERESTING LINES:

“If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.” – Both Vail and Kate say this at different times
“Bricks don’t lie.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhart)
“Raddic is dead.” – Tye (Ilfenesh Hadera) “Not anymore.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhert)
“I can’t fight an enemy I don’t understand.” – Vail (Aaron Eckhert)