BigGuy

The plot of the movie made me think this would be a Statham action movie. Instead it was a melodrama with a sprinkle of action thrown in. As in, if you put all the action sequences in this movie together, you might get as much as a typical scene in one of his movies.

I can forgive that, since I thought Jason Statham was a great actor in his early movies when he didn't do any action. What is less forgiveable is the melodrama. Watching him emote depression for an hour is not entertaining. For instance, the self-destructive behavior of PTSD is portrayed, but with the subtlety of a mallet.

The other main character, the nun, was given some personality, but unfortunately it almost entirely stereotypical mousy nun. The bits that aren't are either overly dramatic or the predictable things to add character to a nun (without spoilers...).

Anyway, it wasn't an awful movie, but it wasn't good and it didn't have a lot going for it.

It is hard to review a Hallmark Christmas movie. In some ways this was better than most... The story was surprisingly less contrived than many, or perhaps more obviously contrived. There is always the question of how to throw together the two semingly mismatched people. In this case a blind date mixup with an uncovered cop. Surprisingly, it is almost believable. More believable than the caricatures the main characters start out as.

They definitely play fast and loose with timelines (how long things take to do), and there are some unnecessarily silly scenes. The property department also had their work cut out for them and didn't quite make the grade.

So the story holds together, minus some plot holes and silliness. The chemistry actually works between the main characters, with definite tension and friction at first, then harmony as they both shed their caricatures and let who they want to be out.

I enjoyed the first Die Hart movie. It wasn't amazing but it was enjoyable and had some original bits. This was not as good. This was kind of like those sequels where they changed all the main actors to save the budget and hope people just watch it for the name. Although in this case the two leads are back.

Die Hart 2 went too far into the campy and awkward end of the spectrum. It also tried too hard to be a parody so that the main thing it ridiculed is itself.

Also what is it with the swearing? It was almost as if they wanted the R rating just from the swearing.

Anyway, if you love Kevin Hart being over the top Kevin Hart, you might like it. I think most people should give it a pass.