Review: Not much to live for in 'Survivor'

SURVIVOR is a film that survives on the stardom of its cast with former supermodel Milla Jovovich and heartthrob Dylan McDermott as the good guys and former agent 007 Pierce Brosnan as the villain. There's also sultry How Stella Got Her Groove Back star, Angela Bassett as the back-less boss.

The director for this film is James McTeigue of V for Vandetta. McTeigue did not quite hit it off with this one though because Survivor appears to be a relatively shallow and predictable thriller.

This film shows Katherine Abbott (Jovovich), an American Foreign Service officer who, due to her flying colours in the service, got assigned to London to monitor the slightest possibility of security infringement there; mainly on the lookout for terrorist.

Milla Jovovich

Katherine Abbott (Milla Jovovich) survived the 9-11 World Trade Centre terror attack and got assigned to London to be on the look out for terrorists. - All pictures courtesy of TGV Pictures

Abott, a decorated and highly credible officer, has lost a number of her close friends whilst on duty during 9/11 and she can’t shake off the image of that incident. Determined by this, Abott is constantly suspicious and paranoid over the slightest abnormal thing coming her way.

One day, Abbott got suspicious over a number of nationals applying for visas to the United States – that they are disguising as speakers for a health seminar when they are actually trying to stage terror attack abroad.

Her immediate supervisor, Sam Parker (McDermott) has a soft spot for her and believes in every decision she makes and he constantly has her back especially when she gotten into trouble with the higher authority - the short-tempered US ambassador Maureen Cranepaul (Bassett).

McDermott and Jovovich

McDermott and Jovovich both play the roles of secret service agents out to hunt for border-crossing terrorists.

Consequently, Abbott got herself right in the line of fire and she is targeted for death and framed for crimes. Discredited, she is forced to go on the run while she tries to clear her name and stop a large-scale terrorist attack set for New Year's Eve in Times Square.

The cat-and-mouse chase begins when an assassin known as The Watchmaker (Brosnan) got in the picture. Brosnan played the opposite role of his typical macho man character in most movies. In this one he is a professional bomber and sharp sniper who goes around killing people as suave as possible.

Pierce Brosnan

Brosnan plays a suave but vicious assassin in Survivor

Survivor sees a lot of repetitive stunt with Abbott constantly and consistently escapes not just The Watchman but the entire United States' and United Kingdom's safety and security forces. She is so sleek that she passes the borders without being incognito.

So, yay for women power but nay for such a lazy and laidback thriller film like this one.

Directed by: James McTeigue

Cast: Milla Jovovich, Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Dylan McDermott

Release date: May 28, 2015 (TGV Pictures)

Watch the Survivor trailer here: