Now even the copies of the Bourne movies have copies; and in evidence I submit The Expatriate (released as Erased in the United States.)
The Hollywood product cycle now rivals cellphones for rapid obsolescence, and a movie is barely in cinemas before it’s up for a reboot.
And so here’s The Expatriate, using exactly the same story used for Liam Neeson in Taken – in which a decommissioned secret agent capably takes out the enemies who have kidnapped his estranged daughter.
And they’ve erased his past, like in the Bourne movies, and like they did to Neeson in Unknown. Or was that Taken 2? Each borrowed hip European spy scenery and grievance logic from Bourne, keyed on the family-in-danger hook used for everything from Commando to Die Hard (twice, so far).
Not only the same stories but the same actors come round again in head-spinning succession: Aaron Eckhart, cast here as ex-spy Ben Logan, appeared in cinemas only weeks ago as the US president, chained to a railing in Olympus Has Fallen. Morgan Freeman, the US Chief of Staff in Olympus, turned up the next month as the Chief of Alien Ass-Kicking in Oblivion. Olga Kurylenko, also in Oblivion, is back this week in The Expatriate, as the CIA chief in Belgium.
As Logan works his way through a plot involving secret files, security breaches, smoking guns, car chases, arms deals, and international conspiracies, Eckhart takes an opportunity to flex his action-man aspect while holding his own against a series of forgettable foes.
In contrast to Matt Damon’s almost affectless portrayal of the mind-damaged spy Jason Bourne, Eckhart’s glinting, chiselled determination make him an unlikely secret agent, because he’s just the sort of American hero you’d expect to be working for the CIA – or maybe that’s just what they want you to think. Even less likely to miss in a crowd is the gorgeous Kurylenko, as the CIA head of station who’s trying to help Logan – or is she?
The action sequences in The Expatriate seem a little uninspired, by the standards set by the Bourne movies, and the locations in Brussels and Antwerp lend only scant glamour to the gritty proceedings.
But it’s not all bad by any means: the performances from Ekhardt and Kurylenko are convincing, if not quite stellar, and 18-year old Lara Liberato as the kid-in-danger is more appealling than her screeching analogue in Taken.
In sum, aside from the slightly-slack tension, The Expatriate is a fair effort for a cookie-cutter action movie, and a better flick than many of its peers. But be ready for the feeling that you’ve seen it all before.