Criminal

It would be too easy to roll your eyes at the trailer for Ariel Vromen’s Criminal and assume it’s just another in a long line of body-switching knockoffs, or worse still, peg it as Kevin Costner’s latest stab at a Liam Neeson reinvention as an aging action hero (reminiscent of 3 Days to Kill). But Criminal works a sneaky bit of magic, stealing a bit of the Bourne vibe and marrying it with an anti-hero in Costner’s character — a killer with no conscience before getting a brain implant from Reynolds’ secret-agent family man. Including a quiet turn from the wonderful Gal Gadot, there is a lot to enjoy in Criminal; enough, in fact, for it to remind us that such guilty pleasures shouldn’t be thought of as crimes against humanity. (Opens wide Friday) (R) Grade: B