‘Classified’ DVD Review
Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Tim Roth, Marysia S. Peres, Abigail Breslin, Kim DeLonghi | Written by Bob DeRosa | Directed by Roel Reiné
Classified is a title with a double meaning. It not only refers to the work C.I.A. assassin Evan (Aaron Eckhart; London Has Fallen, Chief of Station) does, but it’s how he gets the details of his assignments. His handler, Kevin (Tim Roth; There Are No Saints, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) disguises them as ads in the classified section of the local paper.
As the film begins we see just how the process works as he gets his assignment, gets his hotel room, gets, his weapons, hallucinates about his dead wife Monica (Marysia S. Peres; Hounds of War, The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango), and takes out his target. He’s about to do it all again, this time in Rome, when he gets an unexpected visitor.
Kacey (Abigail Breslin; Slayers, Zombieland: Double Tap) who claims to work for M16 as an analyst and has some important information for him. She claims Kevin is dead, and the division of the C.I.A. he worked for shut down quite some time ago. Since then, someone else has been using Evan for their own purposes. A quick trip to Google produces Kevin’s obituary and sends the two to Malta looking for answers. But can he trust her, or anyone, as it becomes obvious that everyone has been lying to him for a long time.
Director Roel Reiné (Fistful of Vengeance, The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption) and writer Bob DeRosa (White Collar, 20 Seconds to Live) have an interesting idea to work with, one with plenty of potential for action as well as intrigue. And it’s not long after they reach Malta that Evan and Kacey have a team of heavily armed men on their trail.
Eckhart has been making a career out of thrillers like Classified, and Reiné has a long history of pumping out DTV action films and thrillers, so one would expect this pairing to produce a film that should be an above-average example of the genre. Sadly, it has trouble even reaching the level of average with its stale script, whose twists most viewers will guess well before they’re revealed.
It also doesn’t help that Evan has to be one of the dumbest protagonists I’ve seen in a film this year. For the plot to work, we have to believe that he’s been totally unaware of everything that’s been going on around him for decades. They say when you lose a loved one, a part of you dies as well, I can only assume that in Evan’s case it was his brain that died when he lost Monica.
As for the action scenes, there are several firefights and a car chase through Malta’s narrow streets, but there’s nothing special about them. And since none of the team sent to kill them have any personality, most don’t even have names, they feel less like a threat and more like cannon fodder. Even the film’s ultimate villain, once they’ve revealed, is about as bland and generic as it gets. Kim DeLonghi (Code Name Banshee, The Flood) is wasted in a throwaway role.
Even the acting is weak, with Eckhart giving a competent but uninspired performance and Roth playing his role as if this were a comedy. Which at times it is, though of the unintentional variety. At least Reiné, who also acted as the film’s cinematographer, captures enough of the island’s scenery to give a distraction from the plot. However, the less said about the film’s score, which he also composed, the better.
Classified is a generic and perfunctory thriller, one that might work as something to have on in the background and just focus on it when you hear gunfire. But with so many other films available, there’s really no reason to bother with it.
** 2/5
Classified is out now on DVD from Signature Entertainment.
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