A Day to Die 2022 * 1/2 Stars

DAY OFF 

Kevin Dillon plays the lead in 2022's A Day to Die. As Connor Connolly, he has to deliver 2 mil to some drug lords so they don't off his pregnant wife. His crew of awkward mercenaries are there to help him save said wife. Watch for "Die's" loud soundtrack that has rap/country tunes I've never heard before (and will never hear again).

It's good seeing Kevin in a film, in anything again actually. He's a hoot and it's almost like he's channeling his inner Johnny "Drama" via an action thriller. Too bad "Die" is like a David Ayer film without the full, nasty edge. "Hey brother, I need your help". I hear you brother and I wish I could assist you.

So yeah, A Day to Die is a relentless shoot-'em-up that takes place in Mississippi, has hints of an LA County setting, and has cars in it that have Ohio license plates. Talk about a locale problem that director Wes Miller obviously failed to recognize (why does every slick, video-on-demand-er have the helmer name Miller attached to it?).

"Die" is shoddy but you gotta admire its energy and earnestness for the tongue-in-cheek (trust me though, it doesn't have any). The exploding, action scenes (and there are many of them) are edited on the fly and don't have a clear mapping of point A to B. And come on, when is it okay for the so-called protagonists to kill cops and somehow get away with it? Last time I checked that was a capital felony.

A Day to Die also has Bruce Willis and Leon attached to it (Leon plays himself as usual and I think it's ultimately the voice that gives it away). Willis harbors the inevitable baddie Alston (all the personas in "Die" have one-word names). Willis emotes a little bit better this time but he still feels the need to say his lines one syllable at a time. The only real difference between this performance and so many other recent ones, is that Brucey now has some facial hair attached. Oh and I almost forgot, he probably did his scenes in one day (daylight and then some nighttime).

A shaky cam here, a twist there, some slanted camera angles, people saying "white boy" a lot, some fake CGI fire, and a dude walking away from an explosion (never seen that one before). That's "Die" for better or worse. Basically Wes Miller does his ego best as writer, producer, and director (there's even a side character with Wes's last name). His "Die" is kinda freaking stupid. Call it Expendables for dummies and not so good "day".

Written by Jesse Burleson