What a nauseating beginning to what turns out to be a perfectly mediocre action movie. After going on for some 10 minutes, much more of the eponymous Beckett and his girlfriend's lovey-dovey, cutesy-wootsy foreplay, and I would've been ready to run their car off the road. These American vacationers (well, I guess Alicia Vikander is Swedish, but whatever) in Greece display some of the most irritating intimacy ever filmed, I swear--talking nonsense to each other, fondling each other while driving, drawing a heart on him--grown adults acting like horny teenagers.

Otherwise, and despite what the extra-T "Beckett" might conjure regarding more thoughtful fare involving a Thomas or a Samuel Becket, this "Beckett" is a good alternative for anyone who enjoyed watching John David Washington running around in "Tenet" (2020),but would rather not engage with a complicated narrative, or those who liked the conspiratorial intrigue of him in "BlacKkKlansman" (2018),but wished the politics of it were vague to the point of irrelevance. Communists and fascists, oh my. An old-fashioned American-savior narrative, but without the white guilt, an unwitting wrong-man mystery solved during panting breaks in between fighting and chasing. The scenery is nice, though, and, granted, a movie that begins by prophesizing the hero at the ruins of the Oracle of Delphi can't be all bad, although grand, Ancient Greek tragedy this isn't. Watch the "John Wick" shoot-'em-ups for that, seriously.

There's also the debatable appeal of Washington's hero not being without personal guilt and being mostly realistically human--limited by injuries, fatigue, panic attacks, an' all. Yet, he still ends up doing a Batman in a parking garage. If Washington keeps this up, Marvel or DC is going to cast him in one of their superhero burgers.

This was incredibly bad. No wonder the studio didn't want it and I wonder why Netflix picked it up. The perfect storm of what happens when you pick a bad actor and pair him with a bad director. Washington has his dad's voice but none of his talent, so he looks like he's playing in a comedy for the most part. Even worse is the amateur director who adds no suspense, intrigue or thrills to the story, so the whole thing is predictable and to order. The only saving grace this has is the Greek locations, which make a nice change from the norm; the rest is pure trash and one of the worst mainstream films I've seen recently.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Beckett (John David Washington) is on holiday with his girlfriend April (Alicia Vikander) in an exclusive resort in Greece. One night, they are forced to take a detour, and a car accident occurs. Beckett awakens in hospital, while Lena is tragically killed. Met with some interference when he discusses taking her body home, upon leaving the hospital, Beckett stumbles upon a conspiracy that sees him pursued by two crooked cops, drawing him in to something bigger and more deadly than he could have imagined.

Fresh from his star-making turn in Christopher Nolan's most recent big budget mind bender Tenet, John David Washington follows up this big event piece with this smaller scale, but more grounded thriller from Netflix. With a title emphasising the central character, it's fitting given it focuses centrally on him, making his way through his increasingly convoluted chain of events, and not breaking away throughout.

Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino creates an eerie sense of isolationism and claustrophobia with the sunny Mediterranean outback, and deserted side streets our protagonist makes his way through, as well as a genuine air of mystery and suspense as to what's going on and the motivations behind it. He also taps in to the current social climate, with the depiction of a lone black man begging for help from the public who see him chased by police he says are accosting him for the wrong reasons. It's let down, though, by an overly drawn out ending that crushes the suspense rather than keeping you on edge, and an increasing sense of disbelief as events proceed.

It's flaws stop it from being the complete sum of its parts, but Washington is still a commanding leading man with oodles of potential, and this is nothing to be sniffed at on his resume. ***