Outside the Wire

If there's a genre that can be accused of having phoned in storylines, that would belong to action. The types of conflict involved with them tend to be either stopping the leader of an antagonistic army from getting nukes, fighting back against oppressive force, or going from point A to B in some escort mission (or some kind of mission). It doesn't matter what era they take place in such as a western period, modern, or sometime in the future as those plots happen no matter what. Of course it can just be a silly excuse for fun dumb action if the entertainment cool value or other aspect can make up for the recycled material. This brings a new entry within the area, Outside the Wire, which was directed by Mikael Hafstrom. After going through drama films recently, I was hoping an action flick would help give the 2021 slate the thrills it needed. I checked it out on Netflix and after watching it, it ended up being a boring stale affair failing to live up to its own ideas.  

What's it about? Taking place in the near future where robotic soldiers are included in armies, the story follows an android officer and a droid pilot trying to save the world from a nuke threat. As a premise, it's certainly pulled from a familiar recycling bin but there are some neat ideas that are introduced in the first 2 thirds. There are moments where sparks of that potential are just scratching at the door beginning to be fulfilled such experiencing civilian casualties during a mission. 

However, all of that is essentially tossed out the window when all of its problems fall onto the weak script.  There are many unexplored aspects that just thrown in there just because such as one of the protagonists experience PTSD while in combat. The journey itself feels more like a stale video game quest where the stoic but uninteresting leads go from point A to B checking in with people about something to deliver to them or asking for intel. The dialogue itself doesn't really rise what's expected of it, which makes it feel forgettable and more like stock video game speech. The third act goes in a completely different direction in bad way that fails to stick the landing and goes in a simplified out of character manner. 

How's the action? The story wouldn't be much of an issue if the battles that took place could overcome those shortcoming but, in this case, it's a mixed bag. There are cool parts involved where the android officer gets into some fun hand to hand combat with regular humans as well as his shootouts with enemy robotic mechs. What takes away from enjoying them is how annoying the quick cut editing is with those sequences. That execution feels like an unfocused brawl that can't hold still and doesn't let the audience savor the physical impacts. 

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actors to focus on are Anthony Mackie and Damson Idris. Anthony feels like he's making the most of the material that's given to his role between having some charisma and a personality, despite the third act issues that even he can't elevate. Damson is struggling in trying to make his insubordinate pilot protagonist feel natural but he only manages to capture glimmers of that around the middle. The rest of the actors in main supporting role are in and out of the movie so fast that they are unable to make much impact (not worth mentioning them).

 

Overall Consensus: Outside the Wire becomes the forgettable science fiction shlock it was trying to avoid due to its weak screenplay that doesn't take risks as it abandons its interesting ideas along with the mixed quality of action sequence. ⭑⭑1/4 Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Mikael Hafstrom. You want to see a mindless sci-fi flick. 

 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Mikael Hafstrom. You are bored with mindless sci-fi flicks.