Ferdinando Cito Filomarino’s new action-drama Beckett reminded me of a thought process that animation director Don Bluth always emphasized, that so long as the main character got a satisfying payoff in their ending, they could go through the toughest trials possible to reach it and the audience will stay invested. His films tend to have a sense of melancholy underneath them, and he talks about the importance of teaching the audience something as they exit the theater. So that’s what trips this film up, because its payoff is too muddled as far as what we’re supposed to be left thinking about both Beckett and the situation he finds himself in.
Now that might seem like a weird comparison to make at first, since Bluth’s catalog is aimed at children and Beckett is clearly being made for adults. But this Netflix original (which at first went by the far more badass title “Born To Be Murdered”) has a similar pattern to a Bluth film in how it puts John David Washington as the title hero through a crazy ordeal, much like how Littlefoot had to fight off T-rexes in Land Before Time.
You can see shades of North By Northwest and The Fugitive in its possible influences, and maybe a lot of 1980s action films in how Beckett can live through a lot of the injuries he sustains while still coming out on top in many encounters.
The story follows Washington and Alicia Vikander as Beckett’s girlfriend, on vacation in Athens, Greece during political unrest brought on by the kidnapping of a Greek politician’s son. Deciding to vacation in the countryside to avoid any potential mayhem, they take a detour and wind up dozing off, causing them to crash in a house. April tragically passes away from the accident, and Beckett now has to inform her family of the bad news. But who was that boy he briefly saw in the house?
He later goes to investigate the site of the crash, where he’s ambushed by two assassins posing as Greek police (Lena Kitsopoulou and Panos Koronis), from a mysterious group called “Sunrise” that may be behind the kidnapping. With the help of two activists, Lena and Elleni (Vicky Krieps and Maria Votti), Beckett then flees and fights to get to the US embassy (and presumably out of the country) before Sunrise rubs him out.
So first, the good: Washington’s acting is as always top-tier. He can go from badass to vulnerable pretty believably and quickly, and he gets across Beckett’s despair and anxiety extremely well. He also displays good desperation in the action scenes, and much of his combat in Tenet had a similar kind of intense fury. Holbrook as one of the assassins gets to show some charm as a fairly quippy villain, and Koronis in his role I felt had some great screen presence- I legit wouldn’t mind seeing him in more major productions.
And even though the story draws a good deal of drama from real-world tensions over austerity in the EU, it doesn’t come off like Beckett is attempting a lecture. Visual indicators show the plot takes place during Obama’s term, and if there are any sort of allegories to Trump-era American politics, I’m glad the movie doesn’t try to hammer you over the head with that message. This helps Filomarino keep the suspense at a decently high level. It has a pretty cool atmosphere to it that feels distinct, and featuring Blood Orange on your soundtrack is always going to get points with me.
One part where I took issue was the story killing off Vikander’s character fairly early. I think there was a missed opportunity left on the table for April and Beckett to both survive the crash and for the couple to go on the run together after they’ve seen too much, and they could have had fun dynamics fighting off the conspiracy. Instead of fridging her out the gate, this could have worked as an interesting duo film.
I think another big issue with the story is that it’s a bit torn on if it wants to focus on Beckett’s deteriorating mental health and grief, or the political conspiracy angle. And another problem there is, what does Sunrise exactly want? By the end, the group’s motivations and specific philosophy aren’t concretely defined. We know they’re hard-right and they’re holding the politician’s son, and I won’t spoil the eventual revelations but they only create more questions. I don’t know if the intent was for this to be a franchise and that was perhaps meant to be answered in more installments, but it wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped.
Overall, there are things I certainly admire about Beckett and I appreciate its efforts to feel different, but its story is a bit too cluttered and unfocused for it to reach the lofty heights it had hoped for. It’s not a complete waste of time, as it’s got a strong lead performance from Washington and can be genuinely exciting in spots. If it could decide on one direction it wanted to take, that would have helped in its regard.
As it is, it’s a curious experiment that Filomarino can keep building on in future films. If you’d seen it, as always let us know your thoughts at FAN’s social media spots!