Canary Black: Competently Made but Lacking Thrills

Canary Black is a recent spy thriller from Amazon Prime. Note that I say ‘recent’ and not ‘new’. It may be a movie that was just released, but after watching it, I can safely say there is nothing ‘new’ about it. It’s a retread of many other spy thrillers, running through the same basic storylines, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, but rarely generating more than a meager spark or two.

Kate Beckinsale stars as Avery Graves, a CIA operative who finds that her husband has been kidnapped by terrorists. To get him back, Avery must commit treason, obtain and turn over a key piece of intelligence (known as Canary Black) that has global ramifications. Of course, Avery will take matters into her own hands, turn to her underworld contacts, and hunt down those responsible, all while being on the run from the CIA.

Directed by Pierre Morel, Canary Black offers nothing new to the genre. It’s a competently made film, but it trots out the same old tropes seen in dozens of other movies. Unfortunately, it seems Morel is happy with this as a lot of his recent films fall into the same trap and are all marketed as ‘from the director of Taken’, even though Taken was 16 years ago now. That’s a long time to be running on the goodwill of another movie. Canary Black does try to throw a couple twists your way, but the plot is very predictable. And with little to keep you engaged, even if you don’t see the twists coming, you’re unlikely to care too much. Story is certainly not the strength of this movie.

Canary Black does have its fair share of decent to good action sequences. They are all competently choreographed, and they do help raise the excitement level a little. There’s nothing here that elevates the action above similar films though. The action is entertaining enough, but nothing that leaves you on the edge of your seat. With a lack of good story, Canary Black really needed to hit hard with the action, providing something that hasn’t been seen before. It fails to do this.

Beckinsale does the best she can with the material she’s given. She handles the action sequences well and is convincing with the personal drama, but the role lacks real depth. Unfortunately, it is the only role with any kind of character development at all. Rupert Friend is fine as the kidnapped husband, and it’s nice to see Ray Stevenson in one last film. Both are competent (which seems to be the key word for this movie), but their characters are one-dimensional, serving only as functional pieces needed to keep the story moving forward.

Canary Black wants to explore the personal cost that comes with the life of a spy. But the movie is a surface-level exploration at best. “It’s hard” seems to be the takeaway, but I’m not sure I needed an action movie to hit that point home. Plus, the movie focuses more on the action, desperate to get to the next chase or explosion, before any character can have an too long an introspective moment.

Seemingly convinced that if it worked in other movies, there’s no reason to push for something new, Canary Black is just a generic spy thriller. A few good action sequences, and a good performance from Kate Beckinsale can’t elevate it above the paint-by-numbers movie that it is. It wants to be a thrill ride but can’t sustain any level of excitement. If you want a competently made movie to pass the time, Canary Black can fill that need (and nothing wrong with that). If you’re looking for a good spy thriller though, there are many better options out there.

Have you seen Canary Black? Are you planning to? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.