DIRECTOR: RIC ROMAN WAUGH | SCREENPLAY: ROBERT MARK KAMEN | STARRING: GERARD BUTLER, DANNY HUSTON, FREDERICK SCHMIDT, PIPER PERABO, MORGAN FREEMAN | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

While people may gravitate towards action movies for a little bit of escapism, this third entry in Gerard Butler’s ‘Dumb Hard’ series is a film we recommend they run from.

Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Butler) is framed by his friend, Wade Jennings (Huston) for an assassination attempt on President Trumbull (Freeman), one which caused the deaths of eighteen fellow agents and injured the Commander In Chief. Banning is arrested, escapes, and seeks help from his father (Nolte), who here looks like Rambo McSanta, while also being pursued by FBI agent Helen Thompson (Smith). Banning makes his way to rescue the president from the hospital as the ICU unit explodes courtesy of the bad guys, and the chase is on ala an episode of The Fugitive. One expects to see Detective Girrard to show up any minute and give the FBI a hand with a cameo by The One-Armed Man.

It’s a formulaic plot that we’ve seen repeated ad infinitum, one that seems to be the Hollywood status quo, though it’s no fault of the actors as they deliver solid performances considering what they have to work with. Ric Roman Waugh’s direction however is like taking a spinning ride in an upright washing machine after swallowing a dozen ping-pong balls. Enough with the ‘shaky-cam’ and blurred camera shots already! As General Mapache said in The Wild Bunch… “put it on the tripod.”

Avoid.