Kandahar: Not bad, but Could've Been Tighter

Alright, just saw "Kandahar" (2023). Gerard Butler's in it, you know the drill – gruff dude, lots of bullets, desert backdrop. The premise is solid: CIA operative has to haul ass across Afghanistan after his cover's blown. Classic. Visually, it's pretty decent, the landscape shots are great and the action is mostly well-done. BUT – and this is big for me – the pacing felt a little off. There are moments where it really cooks, like when they're evading those dudes on motorcycles, or dodging the airstrikes. But then there are these stretches where it kinda meanders, focusing on character development that doesn't quite land. The dynamic between Butler and his translator was alright, but I think they could've streamlined a lot of that stuff. Made it more urgent, you know? The scene where they help the kid felt like it should have been cut for space. I get they were trying to add some heart, but it just slowed things down too much. I'm usually all about character development, but in a flick like this, I want that to be layered into the action, not separate from it. Think like, "Heat" or "Man on Fire", where the characters are revealed through their choices and actions. Kandahar just kinda tells you who they are. Overall, it's an okay watch for a Friday night, but def not on par with some of Butler's better stuff. I think a tighter edit and a greater focus on propulsion would have made a HUGE difference. Could have been a really gritty, tense thriller. Oh well.