Another Spy Attack

This post was not sponsored nor endorsed by any person, business, or organization. All views are the author's own.

"Okay, so, an action movie! I haven't watched one of these since I watched John Wick. Let's see what's on. The Bricklayer? Hm, never heard of that one. Well, I'm with family. How bad could it be?"

That was the exact thought process that I had last week when spending Passover with my family in Maryland. After all, it was 8 at night and none of us felt like doing anything. So a movie night was in order. With only Netflix and Amazon Prime Video available, we were limited in our options. Thus, this movie was selected.

How was it? Well… you'll see. Now let's go on with my thoughts on The Bricklayer.

The Bricklayer was originally an action book written by Paul Lindsey (i.e. Noah Boyd) in 2010 and had been in production since 2011, but had essentially been in the equivalent development hell for what could have been a while.

However, that changed in 2022 when it was seemingly fast-tracked all the way through to its release in 2023.

What is it about? Simple. Rogue CIA ally starts killing journalists, frames the agency, and tries to start World War III. Why? Even more simple, his family was killed. Sad? yes. Original? No.

Regardless, the agency sends out a grizzled asssasin after him and a junior operative of the opposite sexes to go after them, and the usual espionage hijinks ensues.

That's it. That's the story.

Ignoring the fact that the story is as basic as Starbucks customers getting a Pumpkin Spice Latte (I for one am one of those stans), there was not that much more regarding the background.

Now, regarding the takeaways:

None of the characters were sympathizable enough for me to care. Sure, we have the protagonist who lost his best friend (and presumed family?) but he's enough of an a-hole to assume he's always been like that. That's the only trait he has. He doesn't say or act in a way that would make the audience shed a tear if he ended up blown up, even though we would rather not see him dead.

His partner was also dulled. Oh yes, a junior agent who doesn't agree with a master's veteran techniques and expresses that disproval in sighs and false trackers. How original.

Even the villain half the time doesn't seem like a rogue agent and more like a cool guy in a fedora. He sounds more like a white-collar criminal than an enemy of the military.

As an action movie, one should expect action sequences where the good guys beat the bad ones; and don't get me wrong. They do exist in the movie. But they are so far and between that when they come up. It isn't sudden, it's like "Okay, here's another action sequence.", and it goes through the same motions. Good guy gets jumped on, yada yada yada, bad guy loses.

Maybe that's just all action movies, but I found it dull that the sequences weren't that unique and interesting to look back upon. Sure, they're cool in the moment, but it's almost like popcorn fodder. There was a car chase scene towards the end that was entirely predictable in how it played out. 

Plus, that's not even fact that the villain essentially goes insane suddenly for no reason? Yes, your family died, but you waited 18 months and then agitated the protagonist? At that point, that's on you for what happened. You should have used more layers to conceal yourself.

While we have a general idea of what is going on, a good 25% of the movie could have easily been trimmed off, or at least very least reorganized and made into a more cohesive story. 

An example of this was the main characters going to a henchman's house to… steal documents? It was sort of implied that this is happening but half the movie is set in all dark and it is easy to get lost. That's ignoring the flashbacks which are set in not the best order. 

The only thing that was neat about the story was the location: Thessalonki, Greece. As you don't hear about many stories taking place there. Which I suppose is the one unique thing about the story.

The Bricklayer the stereotypical CIA action movie that has the classic characters and the classic ending. (Oh yes there is the twist but it wasn't a mouth-dropping one), and there is nothing that would make you wonder the philosophical concepts of it all.

However, if you're just looking for a 100-minute thing to distract you from everyday life with some espionage spice attached to it, then sure. It's a nice flick to use time with family. But I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it, and let that be all I say about it.

As of publication, I am currently spending a weekend away from Washington, so I don't have too much to comment.

Regardless, thanks for reading. See you soon!

The Bricklayer is available for streaming on Netflix.