24 Hours to Live (2017) User Reviews (96)

Maybe I had low expectations ...

[thomaslyount · 7/10 · 21 July 2021]

I read the reviews pre-watching. In fact, the reviews are why I pushed it off.

I actually enjoyed this flick.

Yes, it was extremely predictable. This movie has been done 1000 different times, but still good!

Flawed but Full of Action

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 20 March 2022]

Travis Conrad (Ethan Hawke) is a former mercenary agent that worked to the notorious Red Mountain agency. Now he misses his beloved wife Kate (Jenna Upton) and son Adam (Owen de Wet) that died, and lives with his father-in-law Frank (Rutger Hauer) in Florida. One night, Travis is drinking in a bar and his former partner and friend Jim Morrow (Paul Anderson) offers him two million dollars per day to assassinate the former agent Keith Zera (Tyrone Keogh), who is a whistleblower that will disclose secrets about the Red Mountain. Zera is now under the protection of the efficient Interpol agent Lin Bisset (Qing Xu). Travis accepts the assignment, uses Lin's son Christopher (Jeremy Yong) to learn the whereabouts of his mother and has one night stand with her to find where Keith Zera is in her cellphone, but does not kill Lin in the morning. However, Lin discovers what Travis did and kills him. Out of the blue, Travis is revived by the mysterious Dr. Helen (Nathalie Boltt) that has developed a revival procedure after several experiments to the boss Wetzler (Liam Cunningham). Travis discloses the whereabouts of Keith Zera and is betrayed by Wetzler, and learns that he has only 24 hours to live. Now he decides to help Lin Bisset and destroy Red Mountain seeking redemption.

"24 Hours to Live" is a flawed but full of action feature film, with Ethan Hawke performing an action hero surprisingly good, which is uncommon to his successful career. It is also a chance to see the unforgettable Dutch actor Rutger Hauer again. The story is flawed, like action movies shall be, but it is highly attractive and underrated. Further, it is filmed in locations in South Africa, China and United States of America, with many car crashes. The conclusion gives a chance to the character Travis Conrad appears in another film, but after so many years, it seems that the studios are not interested. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Um Dia Para Viver" ("One Day to Live")

Action Packed Hidden Gem

[ActionFan-Reviews · 7/10 · 5 November 2017]

"24 Hours To Live" is one of the better action films I've seen all year and surprisingly came out of nowhere on VOD with little fanfare. It is a must watch for any fan of the genre. It is loaded from beginning to end with plenty of solid R rated action. Shootouts, car chases and practical stuntwork with little to no CGI. Plus an explosive action packed climax that reminded me of the classic finale in "Hard Boiled". Ethan Hawke hasn't racked up a body count like this since the "Assault on Precinct 13" remake. An underrated movie that will no doubt be overlooked as a John Wick clone, but if you enjoyed those films, you'll like this. In my opinion, this will go down as a cult classic in the genre similar to the direct to DVD Universal Soldier sequels. If you consider yourself an action purist like myself, this movie is for you.

7.5/10

Don't mess with The Hawke

[phanthinga · 7/10 · 7 November 2017]

I know Ethan Hawke used to starring in a lot of action movie but he never strike the lead action hero in my eyes until i saw 24 Hours to Live.His always sad and tired face intentional or unintentional make he fit the role perfectly that add a lot of emotional into the cliché dialogue.The movie is pure action from start to finish make it a good Saturday night flick when you lazy to go out.The ending is terrible btw

A bad-guy blasting, blissfully brain-dead, Sci-fi singed time-killer!!!!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 7/10 · 5 March 2022]

If Keanu Reeves's ceaselessly disappointing sequels are fatally getting on your Wick, why not spend a densely dangerous day with the hyper-vengeful assassin Hawke? This adequate, generously squib-shredded blood-spiller frequently makes for an amusingly noisome action-heavy, bad-guy blasting, blissfully brain-dead, Sci-fi singed time-killer!!!! If 'Taken' with substances considerably stronger than salt, '24 hours to Live' is a half-decent, knuckle-headed, audaciously adrenalized actioner from the talented director of no less violent, Cuba Gooding Jr-starring bullet-fest 'Hero Wanted'; NOT to be confused with '24 Hours to Kill' (1965) as that, er, was made in 1965, and is called '24 Hours to Kill', not '24 Hours to Live'! Better to be safe than scurvy as me old man used ta' say!

24 Hours

[0U · 22 February 2020]

With an interesting plot and Ethan Hawke in the lead, it's baffling how this movie turned out so mediocre. 24 Hours To Live has some cool John Wick action scenes but they can be easily overlooked by the flawed and predictable story that left me bored halfway through.

Poor script, tepid entertainment

[chrissatchell · 4/10 · 3 November 2017]

I'll keep this brief, because frankly, that's all this film deserves.

Whilst the premise of a good revenge film has been masterminded in recent years by action packed thrillers such as 'Taken', 'John Wick' and 'Atomic Blonde', '24 Hours To Live' lands very much at the other end of the scale.

The story from the off seems like a convoluted concoction of 'Crank' and 'John Wick', by someone who's never actually seen either. There's plot holes galore, terrible acting (even Ethan Hawke, who is at least serviceable manages to pull off a poor, almost over the top, performance), what almost appear to be dubbed vocals half the time for 'Lin' and the script writing in general is pretty awful (every trope you'd expect, its in there).

The film does have it's occasional highlights, some of the action sequences are fairly well done, but in the end that doesn't come close to making up for this bargain bin DVD rendition of 'John Wick'.

4/10

Entertaining despite its flaws

[cynicsick · 6/10 · 7 November 2017]

1. Bad CGI. The use of CG blood ruined the parts that could have been really good. I don't see any reviews here pointing this out like in many other movies (John Wick) that use this shi**y effect and rarely gets called out. Imagine if they used the tried and tested blood squib, it would totally change the quality of this film.

2. The action is good overall but its lacking oomph. The pacing feels rushed. A lot of times the sound effects are not on point. The background music would drown the gunshots and everything else. The gun shots can range as loud as the footsteps. The balance is off.

3. Plot holes, some characters would know things that they shouldn't and would be in places that are questionable.

That being said, the story was surprisingly decent. There was chemistry between the characters. I like Travis' portrayal. I was able to connect with him without the story cheating. You don't get to see exactly what happened to his past or how it happened, it is unraveled bit by bit as the story goes.

Despite all of these flaws, it still came out decent. If only the things I've mentioned were put into use this film could even score as high as 8/10.

JUST OKAY - (5 stars out of 10)

[BJG-Reviews · 5/10 · 1 April 2019]

The stage curtains open ...

"24 Hours To Live" is not at all what I was expecting it to be - and that's not necessarily a good thing. It's part politics, part military, part sci-fi, and all action. Travis Conrad (Ethan Hawke), an assassin by trade, finds himself under a 24 hour deadline - emphasis on the word "dead".

Conrad is brought out of retirement for a very high paying job in which he is contracted to kill a man about to give a deposition at a secret location, exposing the activities of a covert operation called Red Mountain. To get to him, he comes into contact with Lin, an Interpol agent who kills him for his efforts. Movie over, right? Not so fast. This is where the story takes a very strange twist. Conrad regains consciousness to discover that he has literally been brought back from the dead through a classified experimental process to live for another 24 hours, in order to give them the location of the informant. Knowing they are going to kill him and that he is going to die regardless, he escapes the facility and instead helps Lin in protecting the informant.

I really don't know what to think of this film. The whole premise behind it is quite preposterous, and yet the action sequences were enticing enough to still be somewhat enjoyable. The chemistry that winds up developing between Conrad and Lin was also worth mentioning, and yet I just couldn't bring myself to buy into it all. And why they felt the need to surgically put a digital timer just under the skin of his arm I still don't understand. He's going to be dead in 24 hours anyway, why even bother with that?

This is not a recommend. It is serviceable and entertaining, but as a whole, it falls flat and fails to completely engage and interest you. It's worth a watch if you have nothing better to do - but that's about it.

If you like Ethan, you'll love this movie!

[jlastra · 7/10 · 19 May 2021]

It's a tried & true formula of a sympathetic hero, a war veteran, a father & husband who has lost his wife & son.

He's lost his way but finds the vengeance & redemption he is seeking.

A former Marine who does contract wet work for a ruthless employer.

He finds his way when he meets Lin, an Interpol agent with a son who needs saving.

He's tagged for one last mission because he's the best, he says no but when the contract goes to $1Million pet day, it's hard to say no.

We learn about the bond between Marine's, Semper Fi.

We learn about the value of family & the loved shared between father & son.

We learn about the value of each minute when you have just 24 Hours to Live.

messy sci-fi story

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 7 September 2019]

Interpol agent Lin Bisset (Xu Qing) is transporting a prisoner out of South Africa to testify against military contractor Red Mountain. Former Red Mountain operative Travis Conrad (Ethan Hawke) is haunted by his past actions and the lost of his family. Jim Morrow recruits him to take down Lin and the whistleblower. After Travis gets killed by Lin, he is revived by Red Mountain with 24 hours of life to complete his mission.

This starts off well. It's got action and this movie does deliver some good action overall. The story seems simple at first until it decides to do an Escape from New York with a lot of fake-out flashbacks. It becomes disjointed and messy. Brian Smrz seems to be new at directing. He's more apt at stunts and that's what this movie delivers. The directing is muddled with a lot of flaws in the story telling. The action is fine and there are some good ground level locations. This really needs a veteran director with experienced hands to pull this story together. It does not.

Action movie Renaissance is officially on...

[baqari-com · 8/10 · 3 November 2017]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this is a great movie. By all means no. It has a decent plot, couple of twists and well acted characters.

What i want to focus on is the primary goal of every action movie: delivering understandable action. Now since "John Wick" came out i've watched a lot of action movies and started to notice a change in the way action is filmed and edited. Of course there are a lot of quick cut/shaky madness action films from recent years, but for every "Sleepless" you get a movie like "Acts of Vengeance", for every "Kickboxer 2" you get "Boyka: Undisputed", for "The Hunter's Prayer" you get "Bushwick" and for "American Assassin" you get "24 Hours to Live". What i mean by this? These movies actually let us see what is going on in terms of action scenes.

In this particular movie when Ethan Hawke fights, we see all of it. No quick cuts. The camera moves in wide angle, giving us a clear view. Gun fights have clear sense of direction and geography. Even shootouts during car chase are done better, than in larger films. Now is it as good as "John Wick Chapter Two" or "Atomic Blonde"? No! But it's better than most.

So if you want to watch and enjoy an Action film, where you don't get lost in the action itself, i definitely recommend this movie.

A Good but Lesser Version of'John Wick'

[prabhunster · 7/10 · 21 November 2017]

The concept of a reformed criminal seeking redemption is nothing new. This movie is no exception with the small addition of a time frame, hence the title.

I found this movie to be much better than the average revenge/redemption flick though. It reminded me of a lesser John Wick. It's clear that the director knew the formula to make an entertaining film like JW:

• A simplistic plot giving the bare necessity of background info to set up the story.

• Largely action heavy, well-choreographed action/fight scenes, no CGI. Like JW, mostly guns and knives.

• With a run time of only 95 minutes, the pace of the movie never really slows down once it kicks off. Kudos to the director for not adding any fluff.

• Like JW, this movie is Gritty. Thankfully, no corny one-liners. The action scenes don't really hold back. Again, well choreographed, no CGI.

• Lastly, I really appreciated the casting...

It's so easy now to cast actors who we already associate as being badass (Jason Statham, for example) for the main role. Don't get me wrong, I like Statham but we've seen him play this role so many times that it's hard NOT to envision him as a badass.

That was one thing I liked about JW, Keanu Reeves isn't 'built' nor does he have the reputation of a badass actor. This gives the audience a fresh perspective since they don't really know what to expect or what a non-badass actor is capable of.

Ethan Hawke was a great choice for the lead. Frankly, I've always liked and respected him as an actor. In the few non-action scenes where acting actual matters, Hawke delivers. He doesn't do the JW 'deadpan, man of few words' character but certainly plays the convincing role of a bad-ass.

Overall - The movie is reasonably predictable, but considering the title, you probably came to see some action, not for a riveting plot. If you liked the dark, gritty, and visceral atmosphere of John Wick, you'll almost certainly like this.

7.5/10.

Terrible editing and script

[bammette · 3/10 · 3 November 2019]

This movie is riddled with plot holes and badly cut scenes. I really cannot understand how a professionally made movie can be so badly edited. You feel no emotional connection to the characters at all and also the action isn't great.

It's not very good but I can't pinpoint what

[Gordon-11 · 14 November 2017]

This film tells the story of an assassin, who is shot by the bodyguard of the target he has to assassinate. He is mysteriously revived and is given another mission that lasts for 24 hours.

I keep thinking there is something wrong with this film, but I can't pinpoint what it is. Maybe it's because of the absurdity of reviving someone for 24 hours. Why try and succeed in the mission, when you'll die in 24 hours regardless of success or failure? Another thing is that there seems to be a lot of movie logic present. Why use an office that is completely exposed to being shot, when you're interviewing a high value target? The story doesn't make much sense.

Better Than Expected

[nebk · 6/10 · 4 November 2017]

For a movie that has such a terrible name like 24 Hours To Live the film actually ends up being quite entertaining and competently done. It stars Ethan Hawke as Travis Conrad, an assassin out of semi-retirement and back for one last job. He is tasked with killing a witness who is giving a deposition against a global corporation that has conducted medical experiments and killed dozens of innocent people. In his way is an Interpol agent Lin played by Quing Xu protecting the witness. Soon his conscience kicks in and he is helping Lin survive.

The action is quite well done and the acting by Hawke, as well as the supporting roles acted by Liam Cuningham, Paul Anderson and Rutger Hauer amongst others are all decent enough. The scenery of Cape Town where most of the movie takes place is great. There are plot holes and some inconsistencies in the story and there are certain elements of the movie that will remind the viewer of movies like Crank and John Wick. The end result is not as good as those movies but is still entertaining. Even though the movie strays heavily into the realm of Science-Fiction and tries to infuse a back story it is still largely action based. Overall a 5.5-6/10. Better than expected and much better than most recent B and C grade action movies starring Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Antonio Banderas, Nicolas Cage etc.

Finally, Hawke is back into action role.

[DBLurker · 7/10 · 25 July 2018]

I am a Ethan Hawke fan and have pretty much seen every movie of his (Sinister is my favorite). But I've felt like he doesn't go action movies much and if you've seen movies like Assault on Precinct 13 or Purge, you know he can do action.

So yeah, 24 hours might not be ground-breaking plot-wise, but it does action well. Story is cliched but well acted. Hawke plus other caste, all good, except for the Chinese actress who can't act and is there cause Hollywood movies are now funded by Chinese and need to make money over there.

I think action is definitely what keeps this movie flowing and makes it worth sitting through. A good popcorn flick.

You'll forget about it in a day........

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 27 April 2018]

After a mercenary dies in a brutal firefight, a new regenerative surgery gives him a second chance at life and another shot at redemption........

For 24 hours.......

Ethan Hawke can multitask in whatever film genre there is.

Pick a genre, and you'll find him appearing somewhere.

It's a basic rehash of 3 days to kill mixed with In Time, and it hides nothing up its sleeve.

If you want to see a film that basically rips those two films off, sprinkles a little Escape From New York in the mix, and has a one sheet that makes you think of Jack Bauer, look no further.

We know Hawke needs redeeming, he's lost his family and has turned to drink.

After an offer he can't refuse comes his way, he is fatally shot, but bought back by having a stop watch inserted in his arm, and having his skin dyed fours shades greyer.

The mad on from Peaky Blinders is an old friend that guess what, turns out to be on the other side, so it's up to Hawke to find out what the devil is going on before the counter reaches zero.

This should have been a frenetically paced B-movie, and even though it has some decent action moments, you can't help but think of better action films from yesteryear.

Rutger Hauer pops up as the father-in-law, but this doesn't offer anything new to the action genre, and it's instantly forgettable....

I liked it. What More Needs To Be Said?

[YabbaDabbaDabba · 7/10 · 26 January 2022]

Well, here goes. I had low expectations, even though the viewer ratings were all over the board. It was fun, exciting, and had a lot of action. It was somewhat different than the John Wick references, but I can understand the comparison. It was science fiction folks, and I don't watch science fiction. But I did watch this movie because I didn't realize it was in fact science fiction. Ethan Hawke, the star who I've never appreciated before, did a dandy job. My opinion of his acting skills took a giant leap forward. Well done, Ethan, you finally deserve some respect.

Bad Title. Worse Movie?

[leftbanker-1 · 1/10 · 3 November 2017]

¡¡Spoilers Ahead!! I wrote this as I watched it in "real time" to make reviewing this bomb remotely interesting.

Seriously, "24 Hours to Live" is this the best you can come up with for a name? It's like they just gave up on trying to have a single, solitary, original thought and worked from a basket full of clichés.

They could have just left out the whole plot device of the protagonist only having 24 hours to live and the movie wouldn't have changed at all. It was stupid gimmick.

Goof: In the beginning they say it's the Florida Keys but you see hills in the background. Anyone who has ever been there knows it's all barely above water. No big deal, but still. Just say it is where it is.

The tired old story of the burned-out case who has lost his wife and kid. The thing is, if the guy was such a creep he was probably crap at being a husband and probably worse at being a dad so he should be relieved that he was relieved of those duties.

Just when the plot begins to thicken there is a shootout amid shipping containers which was horribly choreographed and stupid. I'm not sure a film can survive such an infantile action sequence (another spoiler alert: it doesn't recover).

So the Interpol woman knew that her information had been compromised yet they didn't move their witness? How good could she be? How good could the writers be? Not very, is my answer. This leads to another idiotic shootout with multiple soldiers with assault rifles against the woman with a pistol inexplicably dragging a perfectly healthy man behind her. Even more inexplicable is how the hero shows up just in time to run over two guys about to execute the woman and the witnessand she just happens to be out of bullets right when she goes to shoot him. Up to this point the guns used seemed magic and not in need of reloading.

In this scene there's also a dumb car chase, of course.

Either the woman is a really, really bad actress or the director is really, really bad at his job, or both, but any way you slice it things come out bad for viewers.

The flashbacks of dead wife and kid thing got old the first time. The tired thing of the wife not liking what he does for a living has been done to death, no pun intended although I'm not sure that was a pun. Perhaps it was a poor choice of words but I'm not getting paid to write this so who cares? He says to his wife, "I can't keep having this conversation." Exactly what I was thinking about this lame plot device.

"Your wife and son?" she asks of a photo. "No, it's my parents." Who else would it be, you moron? "Faster! We can't lose them." Brilliant dialogue.

And then it gets really stupid.

13 shooters and not one of them has ever fired a weapon before? How else can you explain that they all missed? The shootouts are all like a Harlem Globetrotters game against the Generals. They should have hired Don Knots to be the leader.

Ethan Hawke + Well-staged action = Watchable movie

[Condemned-Soul · 7/10 · 15 July 2018]

'24 Hours to Live' has all the makings of a straight-to-DVD actioner but with Ethan Hawke in the lead. Not only is Ethan Hawke's likeability worthy of giving this film a go, but by the time the action starts, you'll realise that actually it is well staged, well edited and efficiently directed in comparison to most other C-movie types. The plot is pretty basic, supporting characters are thinly written and your emotions are unlikely to be stirred, but Ethan Hawke imbues his character with enough to ensure there's weight to the story alluded to by its on-the-nose title. It's a typically assured performance from a terrific actor, and the flashback sequences give enough reason to keep invested in his efforts, and particularly the John Wick inspired shootouts. Overall, if you come looking for solid action, you'll walk away suitably fulfilled. The choreography is nice, the action is easy to follow, and it's dished out with a slick edge that makes the generic drama easy to overlook. 7/10.

Pretty bad

[dar0417 · 2/10 · 14 February 2020]

Pretty bad and it tries to have a twist ending that does not work at all.

Surprise action film of the year, will go down as an overlooked gem

[andrewmakatsaria · 8/10 · 22 November 2017]

The story's nothing to write home about, think Crank crossed with any globe-trotting spy flick, crossed with John Wick-like action set-pieces. Ethan Hawke does well as a man running low on-time, literally, as he races to find the people responsible for putting him in a state that he is as well as protecting the target he was meant to assassinate as well as her key witness. There's the mystery behind the dead family subplot, there's an older, war vet step- father figure subplot, an old-friendship gone astray yet still bound by brotherly loyalty or some something, I don't know I'm just ticking the boxes of action movie clichés right now, just hold on a bit longer. Despite all the clichés however, the story does manage to pull you in on itself, due to Hawke's sheer screen presence honestly, at least enough to see all it's glorious action sequences and thanks to its brisk pace, once things pickup and Hawke starts running on the clock, again quite literally, it's an adrenaline-fueled non-stop thrill ride.

Some of the best action sequences include: an assault on a safe house with high-caliber sniper rifles that literally send bodies flying after being hit by what would seem like mini-rockets, gushing blood over walls and flinging bodies across the room as if a ghost from paranormal activity film got a hold of them. That assault escalates into a car chase, with some really slick cinematography and a level of ballistic destruction applied to cars and whatever the two cross-firing cars manage to hit between each other, is quite amazing to behold, it's as if the director, Brian Smrz looked at the car chase from "Army of Two The Devil's Cartel" and was like:" Yeah I like that ! do that in a movie". The few hand to hand combat sequences are handled equally well with long-takes and clearly presented fight choreography that seems like a more toned down version of John Wick's fight ordeal, but still entertaining to watch, the finale action showdown plays out like a sort of mini- The Raid film.

All in all, this is a smooth hour and a half package that is great to watch on a plane or a train, with a strong lead, passably average plot, fast pace and some good set-pieces 24 Hours to Live is a short, fun, occasionally flawed, but consistently watchable and at times thrilling good time. 80s action films and figures would be proud.

If John McClane and John Wick had a son

[siderite · 7/10 · 12 January 2019]

This is a South African production probably financed by the Chinese. However it feels very American, and the good American, the 80s and 90s action flicks. You have this mega killer, Hawke's character, that is a professional assassin. He inevitably turns against his evil employers (convinced by a nice Asian piece of ass) and feelgood action ensues.

It's not like anything makes any real sense, but it it nice to see good acting and well crafted action sequences in a film that was probably meant just to make a profit and put some names on the map. It's one of those movies that you watch, enjoy and refuse to analyze rationally. Oh, and Rutget Hauer used just right at 74 years of age, for a few scenes only, but they made sense.

Bottom line: a pure action movie, nothing less, nothing more.

Storyline and Acting Key Elements of a Movie?

[mkmocallaghan · 4/10 · 19 October 2018]

Terrible story line was made slightly tolerable by some a mediocre performance by lead man Ethan Hawke. However not sure how the rest of the cast passed casting....

Will say music on the closing credits was good.