KANDAHAR (2023)

KANDAHAR (2023)

Tagline: 30 Hours, 400 Miles, A Race For Survival

(Action, Thriller, Total Chaos) [R]

In this one CIA operative Tom Harris and his fellow agent Oliver Altman have just finished a job in Afghanistan. Tom is wanting to head back to the States to see his daughter, but his handler asks him to do one more job. He even brings in a translator named Mo to help with interpretation. When Mo arrives he realizes Tom’s handler hasn’t been completely upfront with him and now Tom’s cover has been blown by a United States reporter in the region trying to expose the hypocrisy of the CIA. As a result, every organization and government in the region is now after Tom and Mo. Now they have 30 hours to get to KANDAHAR.

One thing that really stands out about this movie is that even though it’s a fictional story, it does get into some realistic complications in the region. It dives into the aftermath of how destructive the United States leaving Afghanistan was, how many lives it tore apart and the power vacuum it left. It also gets into the idea that there are still covert operations going on in the region and the costs and politics behind that. 

All this is packaged against a slick action background that gives us just enough background to care about our leads. I don’t like every movie that Gerard Butler is in, but he does a fantastic job as Tom Harris in this. I actually thought his role here made a bit more sense with the way the character was played, than his role as the pilot in PLANE. Navid Negahban is also incredible as Mo. The first thing I saw him in was the TV show Arrow, but he might be best known for ALADDIN. Ali Fazal (DEATH ON THE NILE) is superbly duplicitous in this as Kahil who is mainly focused on trying to modernize how things are handled for a certain group in the movie. The same can be said for Bahador Foladi who also does a great job and plays a complex character. 

When it comes to realism this one does a great job and the sets are all very beautiful with a sense of danger. Apparently, first major American movie to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. I can only guess that this played at least a part in how religion is handled in the film. This film is exactly 2 hours long and to be honest I thought it flew by. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this thing and there is just a ton going on. I am not going to say this is as high-octane as something like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE or most other action films, but it moves along with a sense of severity and danger that comes with a heaviness that is palpable. 

Right now I have this 6 spots below PLANE on my TOP MOVIES OF 2023 list, but that is largely just due to the fact that there are just so many great films out this year. Having said that, if you are a Gerard Butler fan, this is a must-see. If you want to know the “kinds of things” that might go on behind the scenes in the CIA etc., this is a good solid flick for that.  We also get a near-perfect score which I thought really helped this thing out. 

Overall this is a solid 5 out of 7 for me. I don’t want to give away the ending, but it’s pretty freakin glorious especially given the setup.

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