3 Days to Kill

This movie takes place in Paris, and the main actor Kevin Costner (as Ethan) is sent to catch the “bad” guys who have some dirty bombs they are going to put in a public place to hurt a lot of people. Yet, in the midst of this, he finds himself dealing with his own medical issues and trying to re-kindle his relationship with his estranged daughter (Hailee Steinfeld — “True Grit,” “Ender’s Game”) and former wife (Connie Nielsen).

There are some unexpected parts in the movie, featuring emotional bonding and compassion for others by Ethan. It is very endearing to watch as he starts rebuilding his relationship with his estranged daughter. I didn’t realize the story was going to be mostly centered around this. The irony is that in between these scenes, Ethan is running around callously killing people, and then, alternately, he shows great compassion for a large family that moved into his apartment that he didn’t kick out. The movie goes back and forth between Ethan brutally killing, to having precious moments with his daughter. It is an interesting way to mix the two, for they make the moments between him and her extremely emotional.

I enjoy action movies and can handle some violence, but this movie has quite a bit of brutal killing, and not a gunshot here and there—very outright, blatant murder—many times with lots of blood and gore.

Another thing that I find very difficult about the movie is that the main female actor (Amber Heard) is very promiscuous and barely dressed, most of the time looking like a prostitute. She is very sexual in her mannerisms and how she carries herself. It made the movie very uncomfortable to watch, sitting there with my husband. For PG-13, the sex/nudity is definitely heavy, much heavier then we prefer as Christians.

There is a scene where a nude woman is seen from the back in a tattoo parlor. The main actress is shown in an odd nightclub, dressed in skin tight clothes with major cleavage showing. There is some kind of nude dance club where women are seen dancing. The teen daughter is shown making out with her boyfriend. I found most of the movie, very uncomfortable to watch because of how much they sexualized the main female character (Amber Heard), and the dirty, raunchy places the lead character finds himself in. It was also very odd to watch the daughter being caught using drugs and almost date raped in a bathroom by 3 boys. Sure, these are real issues out there, but I just don’t choose to fill my mind with them, and I would never recommend watching this movie with a teenager to “discuss” the issues—not worth polluting the mind for this.

There is less bad language than I expected, but God’s names are used in vain at least 5 times. Vulgar language includes 2 f-words, SOB (2), s-words (4), *ss (1), and a**hole (1).

There is some humor, but it is not worth all of the violence and raunchiness the promiscuous main actress brings. The movie is a good example of why you don’t need that vulgar content to make a movie. We recently saw “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” and that is an action movie with no sex in it, and yet still good moviemaking.

With all of these things considered, as a Christian, I felt dirty watching “3 Days to Kill,” and I wish I had not wasted my time or corrupted my Spirit. I honestly should have left the theater. I do not recommend this movie. If you want to see a better recent action flick that is pretty clean, check “Jack Ryan.”

Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Moderate to heavy / Sex/Nudity: Heavy

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.