Following in the footsteps of “The Bricklayer,” in which Aaron Eckhart plays a former CIA agent, “The Painter” features Charlie Weber as another former CIA agent who has chosen a different path, one you can probably guess. . This action film, also modest in scale, returns its tough protagonist to the world of covert operations amid a hail of bullets and conspiracies.
Brian Buccellato's script attempts to forge its own narrative, but both the script and director Kimani Ray Smith struggle to infuse credibility and suspense into an uninspired story that features Jon Voight and Madison Bailey from the Netflix series "The Outer Banks" . Lacking in most departments aside from decent pacing and adequate technical polish, this forgettable thriller arrives in limited US theaters on January 5 and on digital platforms on January 9.
Director: Kimani Ray Smith
Writer: Brian Buccellato
Stars: Charlie Weber, Marie Avgeropoulos, Madison Bailey
Weber plays Peter Barrett, a CIA defector turned artist who lives a lonely life in the Pacific Northwest after a tragic incident that led to his wife Elena (Rryla McIntosh) leaving him. Seventeen years later, living under an alias, Peter is forced back into action when teenager Sophia (Madison Bailey) claims to be his daughter, a revelation that makes no sense to him. Before he can unravel this mystery, his rural home is invaded by heavily armed agents with orders to kill.
Peter, trusting in his lethal training, dispatches the intruders and escapes with his supposed daughter. They discover from Peter's former mentor, Henry Byrne (Voight), that a ruthless section chief, Naomi Piasecki (Marie Avgeropoulos), is behind the attack. With the help of Agent Kim (Luisa D'Oliveira), she continues to pursue the fugitive duo, while a young psychopath named "Ghost" (Max Montesi) joins the chase.
As the plot unfolds, it becomes clear that the conspiracy involves a top-secret black ops plan called Project Internship, which connects all the characters. The diabolical plot revolves around kidnapped children who are brainwashed into master assassins, reminiscent of paranoid fantasies like "The Boys from Brazil" and "The Manchurian Candidate." However, “The Painter” lacks the imaginative drive of those films, and feels more like a routine shootout with contrived verbal reveals.
The film's climax offers a flurry of twists accompanied by black and white flashbacks. While director Smith maintains a brisk pace, there is a lack of stylistic flair to distract from the narrative implausibilities, occasionally clunky dialogue, and prefabricated characters.
Despite competent performances within the limitations of the material, main villains Avgeropoulos and Montesi fall short. The film's attempt at scary behavior involves "Ghost" listening to techno music with headphones and a low-budget "superpower" for Peter, with hypersensitive hearing that causes predictable jump scares. These ideas, while not good, are the closest the film comes to having original ideas.
Filmed primarily in British Columbia, “The Painter” is competent but unremarkable in its technical and design aspects. While it represents a step up from director Smith's previous works, such as the cannibalistic action comedy "Evil Feed," it struggles to leave a lasting impression.
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