Kevin Costner is about to... nevermind.
3 Days to Kill is a 2014 action film directed by McG, written by Luc Besson, starring Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Connie Nielsen and Hailee Steinfeld.
CIA Agent Ethan Renner (Costner), after a failed assignment to capture master terrorist mastermind "The Wolf", realized he's been diagnosed with a fatal disease with only a few months to live. Deciding to spend the last moments of his life with his estranged wife Christine (Nielsen) and daughter Zooey (Steinfeld), Ethan is inevitably dragged back into the assignment of hunting down the Wolf in exchange of a possible cure for his diesease.
3 Days to Trope:
- Action Dad: Ethan is a seasoned CIA assassin with a teenage daughter whom he's estranged from. He tries to mend things with her during the film even while fighting and killing the bad guys (including rescuing her once from Attempted Rape).
- Always Identical Twins: Mitat has twin daughters who are identical. They even have the same haircuts and matching outfits.
- Attempted Rape: Zooey is nearly gang-raped by some young men at the club. Her father Ethan finds her and beats the bastards severely, rescuing her before it can happen.
- Big Bad: The Wolf is the CIA's primary target. He's an arms trafficker who's selling terrorists a dirty bomb.
- Busman's Holiday: Ethan, being dragged back into a mission while he's supposedly on a break visiting his family.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Zooey usually calls her father Ethan because they aren't close when the film begins, though he'd prefer Dad.
- Commonality Connection: Ethan bonds with Mitat, who's the Wolf's driver, after seeing the photo he has of his twin daughters. As a father himself of a teenage daughter who he's struggling to connect with, Ethan asks his advice. Mitat is at first incredulous, then gives him actual good advice and Ethan saves his life later so he can get home to be there with his family again.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Ethan left his family because Tina didn't want him putting her and Zooey in potential danger because of his job. Of course, he can't tell Zooey that because of the classified nature of his job and instead keeps it vague as him being an "international salesman".
- Depraved Bisexual: Vivi acts flirtatious with Ethan, while also watching a highly homoerotic performance by two scantily dressed women with obvious interest. She's the most ruthless person on the good side, including finishing off the Wolf when he's helpless after Ethan won't. Despite this, she still comes through with more cancer medicine at the end that Ethan needs, as it seems she likes him.
- Disappeared Dad: Ethan has been only barely involved in his daughter's life for many years as a result of his work in the CIA. He deeply regrets this, attempting to restore their relationship when the film begins, succeeding in this by the end.
- The Dragon: The Albino is the right-hand man of the Wolf, an arms trafficker who's selling terrorists a dirty bomb.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The Wolf is killed, Ethan makes amends with his family, finally retires from his job, and Vivi continues to send him meds.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Albino is a man with albinism, who's always referred to this way.
- Femme Fatale: Vivi is a very beautiful, sultry young woman with a constant air of menace who offers Ethan money he needs in return for him taking out several dangerous criminals. She's clearly pretty dangerous herself, urging Ethan to take ruthless action when he's hesitant.
- Gender-Blender Name: The squatters name their newborn girl after Ethan. When he points out it's a boy’s name, Jules answers no, it is the name of a man that didn't kick them out.
- Hidden Depths: In-universe, played for laughs. Trying to find Zooey after discovering she snuck out to party, Ethan finds an invitation to "Spider", so he figures his best bet to figure out what that means is asking Mitat's daughters. Mitat’s wife claims that they wouldn't know since they're good girls, only for them to hesitantly answer that it's the La Soiree House, much to their mother's shock.
- Hitman with a Heart: Ethan is a CIA assassin who kills multiple men early on at their orders (which, unlike in later examples, are definitely not self-defense). He seems worn out by his work and after learning he's dying of cancer, tries to get his family money. Ethan also seeks to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter Zooey before its too late and doesn't really seem bad in general, even with his profession. It helps that the people he opposes always are much worse.
- Just in Time: Ethan finds Zooey right as several men are set on gang-raping her, stopping them.
- Off with His Head!: The Albino's preferred method of dispatching his enemies is to have their heads done in by a moving mechanism. He beats up Yasmin and drags her to an elevator shaft to have her head run down by a lowering elevator, and drags an incapacitated Ethan to the edge of a metro platform to have his head run down by the incoming train.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Wolf is almost never called by his real name.
- Papa Wolf: Ethan becomes very protective of his daughter Zooey while they grow closer, protecting her not only from Attempted Rape but also grilling her boyfriend Hugh.
- Red Herring: The Wolf's partner turns out to be Hugh's father, and as the Wolf's men prepare to do a shootout on Ethan at the dance, Hugh leads Zooey away into a private room, which doesn't go unnoticed by Ethan. However, nothing comes out of it other than the two making out, so he's apparently unaware of his dad's association with a criminal mastermind.
- Red Right Hand: The Albino is the Wolf's lieutenant and chief enforcer, a ruthless murderer. His albinism makes him look creepy in the film and showcases this. It's downplayed however as the Wolf does not have any distinctive traits.
- Skewed Priorities: Ethan is reminded of Zooey's birthday and tries to leave a message for her after the mission while still in the vicinity of the enemy. The bad guys figure out that the CIA is watching them and attacks them while he's midcall.
- Title Drop: Zooey describes Ethan's visit as being "three days to kill”.
- Twerp Sweating: Ethan digs into Hugh, his daughter's boyfriend, after the two meet.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Both Tina and Zooey call Ethan out on being a workaholic that left them.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: When Ethan gets incapacitated by his illness while chasing the Wolf and Albino, Albino decides to do his signature move of having Ethan's head done in by a speeding object (an incoming metro train) while the Wolf yells at him to just kill him. The Wolf is proven right when Ethan manages to muster up enough strength to move and throw the Albino into the train's way.
- Workaholic: Ethan has spent past several years working as an assassin for the CIA, leaving his family in the process. He confesses to Zooey that it took him so long to chalk up the courage to come back because the longer he stayed away, the more he felt guilty about finally coming back.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Ethan is dying of cancer.
