Criminal is the second Ryan Reynolds personality-switching movie in the last two years; the third, if you count Deadpool (the other was Self/Less).  If there really is such a thing as a personality-switching genre, then Reynolds has absolutely cornered it.  However, Reynolds is not the draw in Criminal — that would be Kevin Costner, playing a conscience-less role for which Mickey Rourke would have perfect.

Ariel Vromen’s film is a high concept thriller in which a recently deceased CIA agent’s memories are transplanted into the mind of the habitual criminal of the title.  That criminal, Jerico Stewart (Costner), who is the only possible match for this experimental program precisely because he has no conscience, no filter in his brain, then begins to experience the memories, the emotions and the moral judgments of the agent.  The experiment turns a monster into a man, but that’s really just a byproduct; the point is to retrieve specific memories so that an insidious anarchist (Jordi Mollà) cannot gain control of America’s military missile launch codes.

While this story is short on subtlety it at least makes the effort to blend some humanity into the pyrotechnics of its chase framework.  The doctor behind this experiment (Tommy Lee Jones) is thrilled to finally have a human subject but outraged regarding his patient’s treatment.  The head spy guy (Gary Oldman) is impatient to a fault and not someone anyone would ever want to work with, yet his character is superbly realistic and convincing.  And Jerico’s transformation from unrepentant killer into a heroic tragic figure is compelling, if predictable.  The film is surprisingly entertaining considering its obvious set-up and payoff.

Although Costner is simply too likable, Vromen’s film has other assets (Antje Traue, Gal Gadot, stuff blowing up) that keep it on track.  I also liked that the computer expert (Michael Pitt) who, for a short while, actually has control over every military warhead in our arsenal, is absolutely sick with the responsibility he is carrying.  This sensibility is necessary to ground the story and dramatic enough to make it work.  Despite the movie’s obviousness and melodramatic elements, it is pretty effective.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  24 April 2016.