Code Name Banshee

I'm not sure when it happened, but movies just got really bad over the past few years. Even before covid and the obvious budget cuts. Maybe it was superhero movies that just turned everything into low budget, low effort crap.

What a shame to see someone like Antonio Banderas be reduced to this after his 90s hits.

1 star for a few decent shot compositions and Banderas.

D-level movie. Something a bunch of high schoolers could have made on VHS in the 90's. The guns have zero recoil. The acting is below par. The story makes little sense. Just awful.

What happened to Banderas? He used to be awesome.

THINGS I LIKED: The cast includes Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), Jaime King (Black Summer), Tommy Flanagan (Westworld) and Catherine Davis (Run Hide Fight) I always get a kick out of Antonio Banderas, but I was worried about 2 things: his red hair and that this movie might be like one of those terrible Bruce Willis movies that he's been pumping out lately. That being said, I can't wait to hear his voice talents in the next PUSS In Boots movie. You can watch my trailer reaction for Puss in Boots by clicking here. The movie looks awesome.

There is plenty of action.

There is an element of the importance of family: blood-related family, as well as the loyal friends we surround ourselves with.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: I couldn't hear a word anyone said for the first 5 minutes. All of a sudden, the volume picked up.

One of the characters has a thick Irish accent which is often difficult to understand.

I was bored within minutes. Yawn.

The camera angles and shaky cam were super annoying.

Tons of flashbacks and exposition.

I just didn't find any of the characters compelling enough to care about them very much.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: High dead body count with blood splatters Lots of killing with a variety of weapons Profanity, including F-bombs and crude language

THEMES: Revenge Family Loyalty Risk Parenting Legacy

YouTube channel.

I had no expectations to the 2022 action thriller "Code Name Banshee" from writer Matthew Rogers and director Jon Keeyes as I sat down to watch it. In fact, I had never heard about the movie prior to sitting down to watch it. But I figured that it might be worth a watch.

The storyline in "Code Name Banshee" was a bit too bland and monotonous to really fall into my liking. There simply wasn't enough happening to keep the momentum going. So it was a rather generic and dull experience sitting through this. Sure, there were a few gun fight scenes throughout the movie, but it was simply drowned out in a tirade of slow paced narrative and monotonous dialogue.

I figured that the movie might have had some worth to it since it had both Antonio Banderas and Jaime King on the cast list. Turned out that I was not right in my assumption. "Code Name Banshee" felt like one of those numerous movies that Bruce Willis has been showing up in throughout the many last years; not really worth the effort. And not even Tommy Flanagan could manage to lift up the movie much.

For an action thriller, then "Code Name Banshee" was rather short on both action and thrills. So director Jon Keeyes didn't really deliver a movie that managed to stand out and prove to be overly entertaining or enjoyable. Yet, I managed to endure the movie to the end, though it was my one and only time to do so. Believe you me, I am never returning to watch this movie again, as it was too slow paced and devoid of interesting events.

My rating of "Code Name Banshee" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

Who selected these actors, and why does Banderas do this garbage? He can clearly do that better.

The main actress should consider whether she wants to continue playing at the level, or should rather take on easier roles. She holds the weapon like a beginner and embodies the assassin very badly. The close combat scenes were hidden in the dark. Were you so bad that this was necessary?