3+1 Short Paragraphs: Beckett

2021, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino (Antonia.) -- Netflix

I am a man who likes to watch the familiar draped in the clothes of the unfamiliar. I have started re-watching Shetland, a typical British procedural but set in the remote communities of the Shetland Islands. The islands are so foreign yet familiar looking, bleak yet beautiful, the procedural crime stories sad but a comfortable wool blanket. So, Beckett feeling to me like a typical man-on-the-run American thriller set in a foreign land also sounded like thriller comfort food. But Kent's write-up told me it was more, more than typical, less about the capable American foiling his foes while running from a political conspiracy (men on the run, are always on the run from a conspiracy) and more about the Every Man, the far less capable man who decides not to give in. And it all takes place in Greece, a country we see so little of, besides sea side shots from yachts and vacation villas.

Beckett (John David Washington, Tenet) and April (Alicia Vikander, Jason Bourne) are vacationing in Greece. She seems to know what she is doing, and he is just tagging along, following her lead. They decide to avoid the turmoil of political and explore more remote areas in the hills, but this has them heading late to the B&B they had booked, Beckett driving the small car down the narrow not-lit-at-all roads, until he falls asleep at the wheel. He awakens, finding April dead within the ruins of a small house, but not before a brief flash of a red headed boy being sheltered by a woman. When he comes fully awake, neither are to be found, and it is only Beckett, April and his immense regret and grief. A few days later, after a short recovery in hospital amid the awkward calls to April's family and language barriers, Beckett returns to the scene, distraught, needing to make it real, needing to ... end it all? And then someone starts shooting at him, including one of the policemen who took his statement.

From there Beckett is on the run, a run through rough, unfamiliar terrain. He does not speak Greek, he does not have any money, he does not know where he is going, he does not know who to go to. At first he is just ... running, but after a few missteps which get others hurt, he finally sees an image of the boy from the ruined house, and now he needs to find out why, why people are shooting at him, why this is happening to him. 

Much of the interplay between plot and Beckett is through his average person eyes. The conspiracy is muddled, even after some hints and exposition; Beckett, and us via him, are not meant to understand it all. Its all happening around him, to him and he is just running on adrenaline, reacting, with one goal -- find that boy, or at least what happened to him. It is always rough, full of pain and exhaustion. We don't question when John Wick pushes past the bullet wounds and thousand punches, but when Beckett does it, we feel the weight, the effort required. And when it ends, not with a grand action sequence nor masterful reveal, just a blunt, foolish fall from a great height, we feel the relief and accomplishment along with Beckett. I was glad for this less than slick journey through Greece, with a hint at what they have been going through, even though I am not expected to understand it all.