Directed by Jon Keeyes
Written by Matthew Rogers
Starring Antonio Banderas, Jaime King, Tommy Flanagan
Rated R
Runtime 1 hour 28 minutes (IMBd) 1 hour 33 minutes (press release)
Opens in theaters and on demand July 1

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Code Name Banshee is a slick, simplistic action thriller about the title character (Jamie King), an assassin for hire.

Sent to kill a man for $1 million, Banshee—aided by ace hacker Kronos (Aleksander Vayshelboym)—is able to efficiently dispatch threats with noticeable aplomb. Just watch her take out two men waiting for her outside an elevator.

However, someone, namely Anthony Greene (Tommy Flanagan), beat her to the kill and he wants Banshee to hand over Caleb (Antonio Banderas), who has gone underground following a botched job five years ago. Banshee, who is protective of Caleb, her mentor, declines Anthony’s offer and heads out to warn him. Anthony, therefore, persuades Kronos to give up Banshee’s location so he can follow in not-so-hot pursuit.

Turns out Caleb is living in Wellburg, New Jersey, working in a bar he owns and living a quiet life with his teenage daughter Hailey (Catherine Davis). When Banshee arrives, Caleb braces himself for trouble and fills Banshee in on some of the details from their past.

Code Name Banshee is little more than a series of action set pieces that feature gunplay, more gunplay, and sometimes hand-to-hand combat. Banshee, Caleb, and Hailey are always outnumbered, so the film does make viewers root for these underdogs.

Banshee does have an agenda that goes beyond just protecting Caleb—who is able to handle himself, as a fight in his bar proves. She wants to know what happened to her father, and thinks Caleb or Anthony has the answer. So, it is critical for her to make sure these two adversaries—Caleb the bait; Anthony the fish—stay alive until she learns the whole truth.

Code Name Banshee does not make the plot particularly exciting even as the action escalates. Caleb and Banshee easily defeat the first round of men sent to capture or kill them. There is a nice moment when Banshee fools Anthony into thinking she is alone in Caleb’s house. And even though it is a cliché of the genre, it is cute when Hailey reveals an unexpected arsenal.

Much of director Jon Keeyes’ film feels basic. The talk of CIA and delivering an asset to the Russians that fueled the tensions between Banshee, Caleb, and Anthony is pretty empty, and the flashbacks to “what happened” are not very illuminating. The script, by Matthew Rogers is either trite, “You can’t change the past,” or risible, with lines like, “There’s more to life than contract killing.”

But all that is expected in an action film like Code Name Banshee, which does deliver a series of shootouts, some well edited, others not. An extended sequence in Caleb’s house should have more tension. That said there are some nice moments, as when Banshee discovers a target just by hearing a click as he loads his gun, or when she advises Hailey to “cook” a grenade (hold it for a few seconds before throwing) so it can explode before it is kicked away.

King, dressed in a suit and with her hair slicked back cuts a fine figure and makes a pretty cool cucumber—it’s nice to see her take a deep breath from time to time to calculate her next move or brace herself for the ambush to come. She is fun to watch acting rough and tough, and her whole “girl power” thing works well—especially when she teams up with Hailey, who also knows how to handle a firearm. Tommy Flanagan’s performance is almost entirely comprised of his thick Scottish accent which bellows commands to his crew. Alas, Antonio Banderas seems miscast as Caleb. The Oscar-nominated actor is just not given much to do, which is disappointing.

Code Name Banshee is a passable time-filler for action fans, but little else.