Term Life (2016)

Directed by: Peter Billingsley | 94 minutes | crime, drama, thriller | Actors: Vince Vaughn, Hailee Steinfeld, Bill Paxton, Jonathan Banks, Jordi Mollà, Terrence Howard, Shea Whigham, Jon Favreau, William Levy, Mike Epps, Taraji P. Henson, Cain Velasquez, Rio Hackford, Annabeth Gish, Brian F. Durkin , James Paxton

You don’t easily think of Vince Vaughn as an action movie hero. Yet the actor, usually cast in comedies, turns out to be surprisingly suitable for the role of the seasoned criminal in the dime-a-dozen graphic novel adaptation ‘Term Life’. Vaughn plays Nick Barrow, a man who makes his living planning robberies. He sells those detailed plans to criminals, who then execute them. That goes well for a long time. Until a bunch of corrupt cops get involved and Nick’s clients die on the job. The number one prime suspect is Nick, and Viktor, the father of one of the victims – one of America’s most powerful and notorious cartel bosses – is out for revenge. Nick is no longer sure of his life.

That has an additional consequence. Nick has a teenage daughter, Cate (Hailee Steinfeld), whom he never sees but adores. With death in mind, he briefly takes out a life insurance policy (“term life”, and the title of the film has been declared, although, strangely enough, this premise is not returned to later), with her as the beneficiary. But when kingpin Viktor finds out that Cate is Nick’s dearest person, she too is in danger. Nick doesn’t hesitate for a moment and forces his reluctant daughter to flee with him. Sixteen-year-old Cate has no need at all for a parent to slow her down in her independence. Her mom just checked into rehab, so what’s she to do with a dad she doesn’t even know? However, Nick is persistent and slowly but surely the two naturally grow closer.

And that doesn’t happen without Cate learning some of Nick’s tricks. Which, of course, will come in handy later on. In that sense, “Term Life” is by no means surprising. Don’t expect breathtaking plot twists, because you’ve come to the wrong place with this mediocre action film. What you do get is a continuously entertaining film, with quite nice acting performances and surprisingly big names in the credits. In addition to Vince Vaughn and Hailee Steinfeld in the lead roles, we also see Bill Paxton, Taraji P. Henson, Jon Favreau and Terrence Howard in small roles (the term favoritism comes to mind, but who cares?).

Although it wouldn’t be possible based on the story, the film still manages to hold the viewer’s attention, thanks to a pleasant pace and the solid cast. There could have been a little more humor in it, except for that one moment where Vaughn’s idiotic haircut is mocked, there is very little to laugh about. And, of course, there’s even more to it. Will you enjoy this movie? That chance is there. However, it is not memorable.