“Momentum” is a confused, bland, and wholly unoriginal action/thriller that tries its best to ripoff the mid-budget international action formula of Luc Besson’s Europacorp productions. Releasing almost a double digit amount of modestly-budgeted-for-wide-release action movies every year, the Europacorp machine operates in two gears: 1) Take a respected actor in between middle and senior age and turn him into a stoic and effortlessly charismatic action star. This approach worked wonders with the twilight of Liam Neeson’s career. Sean Penn and Kevin Costner, not so much. 2) Take a talented, attractive, recently popularized female star who’s been relegated to supporting roles in giant-budget Hollywood films and give her a leading role as a badass action hero. Scarlet Johansson in “Lucy” and Zoe Saldana in “Colombiana” comes to mind.
“Momentum” tries to duplicate the second approach by dropping the gorgeous and otherwise talented Olga Kurylenko into a wholly predictable and...
