Outside the Wire

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Enzo Cilenti, Emily Beechum, Michael Kelly, Kristina Tonteri-Young
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: A drone pilot (Damson Idris) teams with an android soldier (Anthony Mackie) to stop a nuclear attack.

Review:

Tim: Outside the Wire is an utterly forgettable Netflix action movie. It's never bad, but it's completely generic in nearly every sense. Full disclosure, I actually forgot I'd seen this movie. I didn't write it in my notebook and didn't write a review after seeing it. It was some time later when I saw it on Netflix that something in the back of my mind connected and I realized I'd forgotten I watched it. I couldn't even remember the name of the movie (which, like the film, is beyond generic).

Sometimes it's hard to review a movie like this. It's not a bad movie. Mikael Hafstrom is a solid director and has too much talent to let this be terrible. There's nothing inherently "wrong" with this film. I never felt strong negative emotions. I just felt complete and utter ambivalence towards it. My life wasn't enriched in any way by seeing this movie. It just kind of washed over me. I was slightly bored the entire film, but never so badly that I wanted to turn it off. I was mildly intrigued by what was happening, but I never actually cared. I was glad when the movie ended.

Part of the problem is that the movie offers nothing new and it doesn't seem particularly interested in even trying. It's a completely lackluster story. It's an amalgamation of different parts of pieces of much better movies. It's a film filled with half developed ideas.

The cast is at least decent, although they aren't given much to work with. I like Anthony Mackie and recognize his talent. This wasn't a great role for him. He gets to be in the "lead" role (arguably) but he doesn't look good in the film. It kind of feels like he recognized that, too. I wouldn't say his performance was especially inspired. I won't say that he phoned the performance in, though. He's never bad in the role. Damson Idris gave a surprisingly good performance. I enjoyed his work here and he elevated the character. He works well with Mackie. Idris was strong enough that I suspect he's capable of big things (as long as he works on better projects). It was nice seeing Michael Kelly here. He's always a fantastic supporting actor. Emily Beecham was okay.

The visual effects were fine. The movie never looked cheap, although there wasn't much that felt especially well designed. Like everything else, the visuals were okay but unremarkable.

Netflix has unfortunately rolled out far too many of these forgettable movies. Outside the Wire is okay, but it's a deeply uninspired movie. I expected much more from Mikael Hafstrom. He hasn't always directed good movies, but this is the worst film of his I've seen. I'm scratching my head a bit about what happened here. It certainly went wrong somewhere.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Escape Plan, Real Steel, Triple 9