The Bricklayer

Quite something, in January 2024, to watch a meat and potatoes action film that is premised on the idea that a country, in this instance the United States, could see itself frozen out of the international community for the crime of murdering journalists. Right this second, Uncle Sam's biggest ally in the middle-east is exterminating not just news reporters but their families too; munitions happily handed over by a (notionally) centre-left incumbent soon to be seeking re-election against a bloviating fascist who is promising a dictatorship on day one. As well, rather than condemn Israel, it feels like the entire machinery of the real life western media is geared to finding ways in which they can excuse this abhorrent behaviour. In fairness to Renny Harlin's otherwise workmanlike The Bricklayer, Hanna Weg and Matt Johnson's screenplay dates back to 2011 (2010, if you count the Paul Lindsay book that the script is adapted from) when Harlin first signed on to the project, with the expectation that Gerard Butler would be his lead bruiser. Replacing Butler as the titular brickmason is Aaron Eckhart, an actor who brings a pleasantly paternal sort of energy to his interactions with Nina Dobrev's much younger CIA analyst. Given that in basically any other action thriller of this stripe you could expect some sort of fireworks between the two, it's nice that Eckhart's button man-turned-manual labourer keeps his comments and behaviour strictly instructional. That's it really. Although cinematographer Matti Eerikäinen breaks out the gels, there's nothing in this underwritten wheel-spinner that comes close to touching Harlin's heyday: Bruce Willis and Robert Patrick locking eyes, and trading pistol fire, across Die Hard 2's Annex Skywalk.