A stiffly executed re-creation of the events surrounding the 1980 hostage-taking attack on London's Iranian Embassy that packs all the high-stakes intrigue of a filed police report.
Shot and styled in contemporary, ticking-clock action fashion, it compresses the complex Theatcher-era politics of its fractious standoff into a simplified West-versus-Middle-East conflict that registers as broadly topical.
It is hard to find much here that is new and creative. If one discounts the violence in 6 DAYS, this film is a lot like DOG DAY AFTERNOON or INSIDE MAN.
6 Days boils down the intricate relationship between Iran and the West into a tense standoff of conflicting ideals where the values and perspectives of only one side really matter.
The core ingredients are all there for an absorbing rehashing of events, but as unveiled, it comes off all too often like a routine siege picture with a testosterone insecurity.
It is an 'it-takes-a-village' approach that regrettably strands a talented multi-national cast in stock-standard characters begging for a little more thread to work with.
With a barrage of title-card identifications, "6 Days" can feel closer to a re-enactment than a thriller. To the extent that the movie has a political angle, it's perhaps gratuitously jingoistic.
