Kandahar Movie Review: Gerard Butler is just the top choice to play the all-around action badass who refuses to buckle under pressure in any way. He's simply perfected that tone, and you always know that even if the film is horrible, Butler would elevate it in ways you've never seen before. Unfortunately for Kandahar, it couldn't even have Butler save the day since the film is so densely packed with artificial emotions that caring about these characters felt more like a chore than anything else. Kandahar: Gerard Butler and Ali Fazal’s Action Thriller to Stream on Amazon Prime Video From June 16.

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh, Kandahar follows Tom Harris (Gerard Butler), a freelance undercover operative leading out a mission for the CIA. When he gets offered a job in Herat that will help him pay off his daughter’s college tuition, Harris accepts it but quickly finds himself in a heap of trouble when his cover is blown during the mission. Now trapped in Herat, he must make his way to Kandahar alongside his translator Mohammad (Navid Negahban) and await an extraction team as Afghani forces try and hunt him down.

A Still From Kandahar (Photo Credits: Open Road Films)

Coming off the extremely enjoyable Plane that released earlier this year, it looked like Butler was going to go two-for-two following the premiere of Kandahar’s trailer, but the film just can’t maintain a palpable sense of tension successfully. This is because Kandahar forces several of its elements in the plot rather than allowing them to play out naturally. A major blame falls for how the film is structured as there is no appropriate buildup, and the payoff often feels cheap and unjustified.

This has a direct impact on the action as well, because most of the fight scenes come off as, and I hate to use the term, boring. Kandahar features a mundane assortment of action scenes that don't exactly carry any weight and often feel limited in scope, which is even made more absurd by the fact that Miguel Olaso’s cinematography is a highlight of the film. One scene involving a helicopter especially looked bland; it also took place at night, which is essentially an efficient way to disguise the bad CGI on exhibit.

Watch the Trailer for Kandahar:

Butler, as Tom Harris, is the more consistent part of the film, and his back-and-forth with Negahban's Mohammad provides most of the entertainment. There is a casual degree of emotion here that doesn't always feel palpable within its characters, although the two protagonists are entertaining on occasion. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast ends up getting the short end of the stick. Kandahar: Ali Fazal Shares BTS Pics With Gerard Butler From the Sets of the Film!

Ali Fazal's much-anticipated appearance falls flat. Playing the Pakistani special forces agent Kahil who is hot on Harris’ tail, the villain feels like a cookie-cutter figure with really flimsy intentions. The same goes for Travis Fimmel’s Roman Chalmer and the rest of the cast as none of these characters leave any sort of impression - which makes so much of Kandahar even more underwhelming.

Final Thoughts

Kandahar is all frills and no thrills kind of an adventure where the two-hour journey doesn’t feel worth it. Gerard Butler is reliable, but the film itself packs in no emotion to the point where you as the audience don’t really care about the story up on-screen. Kandahar premieres on Amazon Prime Video on June 16, 2023.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2023 05:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).