The Bricklayer is directed by Renny Harlin and stars Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev.
This week is The Bricklayer next week is The Beekeeper. Going to be honest for a direct to video action movie dumped In the first week of January I was expecting a lot worse. Don't get me wrong this definitely has a lot of issues but for a DTV movie this looks pretty professional likely due to veteran action director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger) behind the camera and the Greece location actually gives this movie a sense of vibrancy and color throughout.
It was nice to see Aaron Eckhart in something again. Although after watching this I was curious on what the hell happened to his career and upon further investigation I found out that Eckhart is actually a notorious method actor so my guess is he rubbed some people the wrong way and he can't get any mainstream work anymore which is sad if true because I think he is talented. Counting this I've now seen Nina Dobrev in three movies and I'm kind of suprised she's not a big mainstream actress by now she possesses all the qualities to be one in my opinion but when she has movies like XXX: Return Of Xander Cage, The Out Laws, and now The Bricklayer on her resume you got to wonder if her agent is the problem.
So two likable lead actors, and a well shot and semi professional looking movie but unfortunately the overall story is what lets this movie down. It's just very cliche, very paint by numbers you've seen this a million times before and it's not done particularly well here either. There's a third act twist that you could see coming a mile away if you know how basic storytelling works also. Not sure if Renny Harlin and Eckhart will want to reunite for a potential sequel but honestly why wouldn't they because what else do they have going on these days.
