10 Movie Sub-Plots That Were More Interesting Than The Main Story

This Owen Wilson-lead action thriller takes place in an unidentified South-East Asian country (that maps tell us has to be either Cambodia or Laos) where the Prime Minister has made a deal with an American company specialising in water systems, angering local workers. After the American representative leaves the meeting, a group of armed rebels initiate a Coup d'état and begin killing westerners on sight.

The main story revolves around Wilson's character Jack, an employee of the water systems company who arrived in the country seventeen hours earlier with his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and their two young daughters. Witnessing an execution first hand, Jack leads his family in what becomes a pretty formulaic and predictable escape plot, until Pierce Brosnan gets involved.

The former Bond plays something akin to an alternate universe version of 007 that actually paid the price for one of his transgressions and was transferred to the other side of the world by M. At first appearing to be a well-travelled British ex-pat, Hammond reveals himself as an undercover UK operative who assists the American family in fleeing the country.

The scenes involving the dishevelled agent are by far the most exciting parts of an otherwise average thriller, and when Brosnan gets crushed by a truck to buy the family a few minutes head start on the soldiers you can't help but wish that Wilson had gone under the wheels instead.