Jakarta. Pierre Morel’s action-thriller spy thriller “Canary Black” is now out in Indonesian cinemas. Although the 101-minute CIA agent film has some intense action, it is still not the kind of movie that you will remember days after stepping out of the theater. 

“Canary Black” follows the story of highly skilled CIA agent Avery Graves (Kate Beckinsale). A mysterious criminal group has blackmailed Graves into stealing top-secret data called “Canary Black” in exchange for her kidnapped husband’s life. Graves has no choice but to betray her country. It turns out that the Canary Black is a codename for a system that can shut down a targeted country’s entire internet connections, thus possibly sparking a modern doomsday.

“Canary Black” starts off with Graves single-handedly taking down some Japanese criminals in a boring fighting scene that might cause the audience to set low expectations. Graves’ wig in the opening scene is also quite distracting because of how bad it is. 

The action only started to pick up after Graves started to look for the Canary Black. A personal favorite fighting scene is when Graves beats up a CIA prisoner to look for the Canary Black -- which one might expect to look like a mini chip -- hidden inside the inmate’s fake tooth. The rest of the action is okay -- some actually pump your adrenaline, while others are simply just there for the plot. 

Some dialogues in “Canary Black” can get confusing especially when Graves and her fellow CIA agents make references to past cases. The plot twist about her husband’s true identity is also somewhat predictable. The movie ends with Graves being recruited by a group of agents specified for high-risk missions. This ending is quite unexpected in the sense that it leaves doors for a sequel -- although that would likely have to depend on whether “Canary Black” is commercially successful.