3 Days to Kill
Relativity Media | Release Date: February 21, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
16
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 20, 2014
Without Costner’s movie star equity, this thing could have fallen apart in the first 30 minutes. He keeps us involved, even as we’re thinking: Wait, WHAT just happened? Read full review
67
The PlaylistDrew TaylorFeb 20, 2014
3 Days to Kill might not be art, but it's better than most of the overtly violent action fare that litters the multiplexes these days, thanks largely to the fact that its heart is almost as big as its explosions. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaFeb 21, 2014
Like Liam Neeson's "Taken" series, Costner's 3 Days to Kill finds its absentee-dad action hero facing off against hordes of goons and gorillas - not to rescue his loved ones, but to prove himself to them, and maybe get a little extra quality time, too. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreFeb 20, 2014
Daft and sloppy as it is, 3 Days rarely fails to entertain. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckFeb 20, 2014
It’s all absurd in a way that is typical Besson. But it’s also undeniably entertaining, and it marks a relatively pain-free way to kill, if not three days, at least a couple of hours. Read full review
58
Film.comKate ErblandFeb 21, 2014
The film’s tone is wildly uneven. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonFeb 25, 2014
Of course, the movie doesn't work. But Costner does. No matter now nonsensical and uneven 3 Days to Kill gets, he's miraculously consistent. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissFeb 23, 2014
If the movie had been content to replicate the Taken formula, and left the fatherhood angle as a subtext, it would be easier to take. Instead, even for Costner admirers, it’s a hard 2 hours to kill. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 23, 2014
Actually, the only truly obnoxious thing about 3 Days to Kill is that the violent scenes are more congenial than the family scenes, because the teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) here is presented as a sour, nasty brat. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 23, 2014
A comic-tragic-sentimental genre hodgepodge that wants to make you feel all the feelings amid all that action spectacle. It doesn’t entirely deliver, but at times you can’t help but admire its strangeness. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyFeb 21, 2014
Costner responds by bringing an easy integrity and seemingly effortless humanity to his part. And hence making a messy, meandering and silly movie rather more watchable than it deserves to be. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyFeb 20, 2014
3 Days to Kill is a comic variation on the "Taken" movies, which Besson also co-wrote and produced, starring Liam Neeson as a daughter-rescuing spy. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 20, 2014
The film is helped by Costner's self-deprecating, aw-shucks charm. The actor is game whether he's being asked to fight off truculent teens or treacherous terrorists. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 20, 2014
By any reasonable standard, 3 Days to Kill is a terrible movie: incoherent, crudely brutal, dumbly retrograde in its geo- and gender politics. But it is also, as much because of as in spite of these failings, kind of fun. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAlan JonesFeb 20, 2014
McG may strip down his approach and serve up a variety of slick, well-paced shoot-outs and car chases, but his technical skill can't quite overcome the story's lazy sense of humor and incomprehensible account of international espionage. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 19, 2014
Although it’s not impossible to mix humor and violence, as “Midnight Run” proves, it isn’t easy — as 3 Days to Kill proves. Points for effort all the way around, and welcome back, Costner. Let’s hope things get better from here. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFeb 22, 2014
The movie never finds a way to blend the emotional and the rat-a-tat-tat into one seamless package the way that Besson did in his one and only good movie, The Professional (1994). Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonJun 17, 2014
Psychologists would doubtless have a field day with the film’s lumpy brew of semi-incestuous paternal angst, midlife machismo, all-American dick-swinging and moderate racism, but we imagine most of them are too busy to waste two hours on this sludge. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisFeb 26, 2014
The central conceit in 3 Days to Kill – the family man moonlighting as a gun-for-hire – is hardly a fresh one. It worked in films released 10 or 20 years ago (see True Lies or Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but here it feels played out, clichéd. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 21, 2014
The end result is still not a very good film, but it is one that boasts some enjoyable moments -- but only if you find yourself with two hours to kill. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 23, 2014
It’s artificial, annoying, and boring. Read full review
38
USA TodayScott BowlesFeb 20, 2014
The result is a convoluted mess that has one good twist and two good car chases. But it's hardly enough to bring this spy flick in from the cold. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanFeb 20, 2014
3 Days to Kill feels like two very different movies, neither of which is particularly good. Read full review
30
The DissolveNathan RabinFeb 20, 2014
It’s many different films at once—all muddled, all unsatisfying, and all crying out for Liam Neeson’s participation. Read full review
30
VarietyGeoff BerkshireFeb 20, 2014
The lukewarm family dynamics sit awkwardly alongside equally underwhelming action sequences. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyFeb 22, 2014
It's a movie that's races from no place to get nowhere. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 20, 2014
Costner, by contrast, is too laidback to intimidate; he seems less battle-wearied than simply weary, nailing only half of the profitable “aging ass-kicker” equation. Firefights and car chases just don’t suit this movie star of advancing years. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 20, 2014
3 Days to Kill is pretty terrible, but it’s not really Kevin Costner’s fault. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 20, 2014
Besson provided the story and co-wrote the screenplay for a film directed by McG, who does his usual McGhastly job with action and is McGruesome when it comes to comedy. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFeb 20, 2014
It only comes alive when the star briefly shows the casual looseness that once was his calling card. Read full review
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