Review - The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (2013)

Starring Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood and Mads Mikkelsen.
Directed by Fredrik Bond.

Synopsis: After his mother's death, a guy travels to Bucharest where he falls for a woman who is claimed by a violent crime boss.

After his mom dies, Charlie Countryman (Shia LaBeouf) decides to take a trip to Bucharest. While on the airplane, an unexpected incident occurs and it results in Charlie meeting a young musician name Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood), who happens to have a crime boss husband name Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen).

Gabi becomes Charlie's love interest. I thought this movie would be an effective character study and rom-com of Charlie's self-discovery, but instead it turned out to be a lame game of chasing and love triangle. There was no real character buildup, especially the protagonist. As the movie went along, the sense of attachment I felt to Charlie and Gabi at the beginning deteriorated. Shia LaBeouf puts effort in his role (although there were a few moments of over-acting), but I have to give him some credit for trying. He wasn't that overly annoying kid from Transformers, but displayed a more mature side to him. Hopefully this movie might be the step in the right direction for his career or who knows. Despite not being given much, Mads Mikkelsen's portrayal of the hard-nosed husband was also commendable.

The most disappointing aspect of this film was the laughable screenplay, to which I also blame for the poor development. The coolest aspect was the hallucinatory visions Charlie experienced and I thought the movie was visually pleasing as well. It looked to be a promising romance story in the first half hour -- I even liked the way our two main characters met -- but in the end, the storyline and the characters felt quite shallow.

The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman skimmed on the surface of what could have been an actual good movie. Kudos to Shia LaBeouf for not being annoying.

Rating: 5.5/10