Criminal (2016)
Criminal is a 2016 American action thriller film directed by Ariel Vromen and written by Douglas Cook and David Weisberg. The film is about a convict who is implanted with a dead CIA agent’s memories to finish an assignment. The film stars Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, and Tommy Lee Jones, in the second collaboration among all three following the 1991 film JFK. The film also features Alice Eve, Gal Gadot, Michael Pitt, Jordi Mollà, Antje Traue, Scott Adkins, Amaury Nolasco, and Ryan Reynolds. Principal photography began on September 4, 2014, in London. The film was produced by Campbell-Grobman Films and Millennium Films and was released on April 15, 2016. It received generally negative reviews from critics and was a financial disappointment, grossing $38 million against its $31.5 million budget.
Plot
Spanish industrialist-turned-anarchist Xavier Heimdahl arranges for his associate Jan Strook—a hacker known as “the Dutchman”—to create a wormhole program that would allow the owner to bypass all computer codes protecting the world’s nuclear defense codes. The Dutchman panics and attempts to hand his secret over to CIA agent Bill Pope. Although Pope gets the Dutchman to a safe house and recovers the money to pay him for his services, he is caught by Heimdahl’s men and tortured to death before he can tell anyone where he hid the Dutchman. Desperate to find the Dutchman, Pope’s supervisor Quaker Wells contacts Dr. Micah Franks, who has developed a treatment that could theoretically plant the memory patterns of a dead person onto a living one.RELATED:
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Franks requests that they “graft” Pope’s knowledge into the brain of convict Jerico Stewart, who received damage in his frontal lobe by being abused as a child and is effectively a sociopath.
After the operation, Jerico escapes custody and fakes his death. He steals a maintenance van and goes to Pope’s house, where he holds Pope’s widow Jillian hostage while he looks for the money. As time goes on, he experiences memory flashes of Pope’s past, but all he can determine is that the bag of money was hidden behind a bookshelf, without identifying where it or the Dutchman is kept.
The CIA learns that the Dutchman is planning to sell the program to the Russians, believing that the CIA has betrayed him. Fortunately, they are able to find Jerico after he contacts Dr.
Franks for medication using Pope’s CIA codes. Jerico is beginning to develop emotions and draw on Pope’s experience. As Jerico attempts to retrace the route Pope took to hide the Dutchman, Heimdahl creates a distraction at the airport that draws Wells’ attention, allowing Heimdahl’s accomplice and lover Elsa to try and capture Jerico, killing his CIA guards before Jerico escapes by driving a taxi off a bridge.
Jerico retreats to the Pope house, where he encounters Jillian and explains the situation to her. Although she initially fears him, Jillian comes to accept Jerico as she sees him bonding with her daughter, Emma, allowing Jerico to stay the night. The next morning, Jerico realizes through a conversation with Jillian that the bag is hidden in the rare books collection at the University of London where she works.
Development.
On June 20, 2013, it was announced that Millennium Films had acquired the script for Criminal, written by Douglas Cook and David Weisberg, an action film in which a dead CIA operative’s memories, secrets, and skills are implanted into a dangerous criminal, who is sent on a government mission. J.C. Spink, Chris Bender, Matt O’Toole and Mark Gill were initially announced as producers, with Boaz Davidson later joining the production. On September 13, Millennium set Ariel Vromen to direct the film.
Casting.
On June 17, 2014, Kevin Costner was cast to play a dangerous criminal with a dead CIA operative’s skills, secrets, and memories implanted into him to finish a job. On July 10, Gary Oldman was in talks to join the film to play the CIA chief. On July 23, Tommy Lee Jones joined the film to play a neuroscientist who transplants the memories to the criminal, while Oldman’s role was also confirmed. On August 4, Ryan Reynolds was added to the cast. On August 7, Alice Eve joined the cast. On August 11, Jordi Mollà joined the film in the villain role of Hagbardaka Heimdahl, who wants the dead CIA agent’s secrets now implanted in the criminal’s brain. On August 12, Gal Gadot signed on to star in the film as Reynolds’ character’s wife. On September 26, Antje Traue joined the film to play the villain’s accomplice.RELATED:
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Filming.
Principal photography on the film began on September 4, 2014, in London. Some actors and crews were also spotted filming scenes for the film on King’s Road in Kingston. From September 22–25, filming was taking place in Yateley, Hampshire, where actors were spotted filming car crashes and helicopter chase scenes at the Blackbushe Airport. Filming was also done in Croydon College in Croydon, with the college building used as medical research labs and the CIA operations centre. In October 2014, Connect 2 Cleanrooms installed a cleanroom in Surrey Quays Road, London, for the scene where Tommy Lee Jones’ character operates on Kevin Costner’s. On October 23, aerial drone filming was undertaken featuring Costner in a car chase scene on White’s Row in East London. Some filming also took place at the SOAS University of London library. Filming also took place at Pinewood Studios.