After the horribleness of Ralph Ziman'sKitelast October,one might be nervous about another cartoonish, female-led action film shot in South Africa and featuring a prominent African-American actor slumming in a glorified cameo. But Stephen S. Campanelli's Momentumis noKite, and if Morgan Freeman seems even less engaged here than Samuel L. Jackson did in Ziman's film, at least the overall movie is far more entertaining (and features a strong lead in Olga Kurylenko). The story is pretty basic spy stuff: Alex (Kurylenko) is an expert thief whose identity is revealed when that One Last Heist goes awry — and an odd heist it is, looking for all the world like Daft Punk robbing a bank. He must avoid the authorities, as well as a sadistic assassin (James Purefoy) who's on the payroll of a crooked senator (Freeman). Tonally, the fast-pacedMomentumresembles the Pierce Brosnan vehicleThe November Man, which also starred Kurylenko as the mostly passive, oft-objectified damsel; here, Kurylenko is in the Brosnan role as the quick-on-her-feet badass, complete with such clichés as the bad guy marveling, "Damn, she's good!"Momentumloses some goodwill early on with a gratuitous shot of Kurylenko in her undies — just couldn't resist, could you, Campanelli? — but by the end, it's hard not to look forward to the sequel it promises.
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