When it comes to their action movies, the quality of Netflix’s output can perhaps kindly be described as inconsistent. Films like Ava and _6 Underground___ squandered excellent casts and big budgets, but last year _The Old Guard___ hinted that the streaming service had begun to move in the right direction. Directed by Mikael Håfström, _Outside The Wire___ is more of a middling effort, its bright spots failing to mask its messy and derivative narrative. For a movie with elements of _Training Day____, the *Terminator*_ franchise, and even *_Gemini Man*_, it feels too generic too often.
Much of what is engaging about Netflix’s latest can be attributed to the compelling lead performances. That brilliant but cold drone pilot Harp would have his perspective changed by experiencing the horrors of war close-up is a given, but rising star Damson Idris brings credibility to his predictable journey. Anthony Mackie is at his entertaining best when Leo — Harp’s new, android partner — is allowed to wisecrack, and even when Rowan Athale and Rob Yescombe’s screenplay gets bogged down in needless exposition, the shifting dynamic between Harp and Leo — each suspicious of the other — keeps us on our toes.
It’s nothing that hasn’t been done better in films like _Eye In The Sky_ or _Good Kill_.
Other characters don’t fare as well. The always reliable Michael Kelly is underused as a cynical US colonel, and Emily Beecham’s resistance fighter Sofiya is hampered by inconsistent characterisation, with one key beat in which she spares a character she should kill to serve the story proving especially puzzling. There is some lip service paid to collateral damage and the greater good, but it’s nothing that hasn’t been done better in films like _Eye In The Sky___ or _Good Kill___.
As for the action, it takes a while for Mackie’s android to really cut loose and when he does, it’s a mixed bag. There’s little of the creativity of Leigh Whannell’s _Upgrade___ or even the audacity of _Extraction___’s 12-minute long take. A late sequence in which Leo goes full one-man-army is a high point, but other action beats — like the film itself — are all too bland and uninspired.
