Chief of Station movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Chief of Station

This action movie is now available to stream online.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 37 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

SPONSOR of Today’s movie review:

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA: https://amzn.to/4a4Dugp

IN A NUTSHELL:

Aaron Eckhart is back with another political espionage drama. It’s not great, but it’s still fun. The story is about Ben, a former CIA station chief, whose wife dies in an explosion, which turns out to be a hit on her because she was also in the CIA. He has to unravel the mystery surrounding the event and rescue his son.

The film was directed by Jesse V. Johnson. Writing credits go to George Mahaffey.

THINGS I LIKED:

I like Aaron Eckhart, partly because he kind of looks like one of my sons. Ha ha I always get a kick out of his movies, even if they’re not perfect. He definitely takes a beating in this action flick.
Other cast members include Alex Pettyfer, Chris Petrovski, Olga Kurylenko, Laetitia Eido, Nick Moran, and Daniel Bernhardt.
We get to visit several beautiful European cities where the film takes place, particularly Budapest, where I’m going this summer!
There’s a twist, although you see it coming a mile away.
The title refers to Aaron Eckhart’s character’s previous jobs in the CIA.
The movie poster is pretty standard for the genre but definitely catches your attention for the presence of Aaron Eckhart. He’s why viewers will want to watch this action flick.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Some viewers might be confused by the flashbacks and bouncing around on the timeline.
Jammed gun in a fight. Seriously?
Aaron Eckhart sure has been accepting a lot of lame scripts lately. Easy paycheck for him. Disappointing for us.
The plot is pretty standard for the genre, not really adding anything unique or unusual.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids will be bored.
One of the characters is a Muslim.
Profanity, including F-bombs
Lots of violence with various weapons, as well as hand-to-hand combat
We see someone get tortured
Lots of explosions and destruction
People get kidnapped

THEMES:

Revenge
Reputation
Betrayal
Rogue agent
Trust

FUNNY LINES:

“IG’s like mushrooms: keep him in the dark and feed him manure.” – Director Austin (James Faulkner)
“The phrase ‘intel failure’ isn’t an oxymoron; it’s a redundancy.” – Director Austin (James Faulkner)

DUMB LINES:

“Hey, when this is all over, don’t be a stranger.” – Benjamin Malloy (Aaron Eckhart)

INTERESTING LINES:

“You Americans think you are so tough.” – bad guy
“You’re going back?” – Nick Malloy (Chris Petrovski) “I left someone behind.” – Benjamin Malloy (Aaron Eckhart)