Review of Killing Season (2013) by Ola G — 20 Jun 2014

In Belgrade, Serbia, former Scorpions soldier Emil Kovac (John Travolta) meets his informant to retrieve a file on American military veteran and former NATO operative Colonel Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) who also took part in the Bosnian war in the 90s. Ford has fled to a cabin retreat somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, to forget the war. Now a recluse, he meets Kovac, posing as a European tourist, during a hunting trip. The two men become friendly, until Kovac reveals his true identity. Intent on revenge, he initiates a gory game of cat-and-mouse with Ford...

"Killing Season" puts two, in my opinion truly former heavyweights in Hollywood, together and the result is not exciting, nor intriguing. I can´t stress enough how much John Travolta has become a cartoon character in his roles these days and Emil Kovac is hardy an exception. He doesn´t convince anybody of being a former Serbian soldier and the accent is just horrible. De Niro on the other hand is as boring as ever and the aura he used to have is long gone. Meaning these two together are not even close of starting the tiniest spark. I reckon it´s not a bad idea to put more light on the horrible acts of the Bosnian war, but due to flat characters and the teaming of Travolta/De Niro this becomes a yawn am I afraid.