At some point in recent years, Kevin Costner has clearly sat down in front of his large screen TV and viewed a number of action films starring one man: Liam Neeson.

Due to the success of the 2008 thriller Taken, Neeson's career has taken an unexpected twist, seeing the Irish actor in the new guise of action hero. And there appears to be no let up in this new direction either; this year saw him fight it out on a plane as an air marshal in Non-Stop and next year will see him return in Taken 3.

With Costner's career in somewhat of a lull, and with only three years separating him and Neeson (who is older out of the two, at 62), Costner obviously felt that if Neeson could do it, why couldn't he?

Kevin Costner has three days to kill. But can it save his career?

The CIA has been tracking down a target known only as the Wolf for ten years now, and they think they're finally going to get their man. They've set aside a team to bring him in but need someone else to take down his associate, known as the Albino (Tómas Lemarquis). Veteran agent Ethan Renner (Costner) is given the task of taking care of him. He nearly does, too, but the plan doesn't quite work and Renner ends up injured on the ground.

In hospital he learns that the cough he has is slightly more serious than he thought; he has a brain cancer that has cruelly travelled to his lungs, and the doc informs him that he has three to five months left to live. Shortly after receiving this news, the CIA inform him that they no longer require his services and wish him well in his retirement.

He returns to Paris, where his estranged wife Christine (Connie Nielson) and daughter Zooey (Hailee Steinfield) currently reside. He wants to spend however long he has left with his loved ones.

It's while in Paris that he's approached by the seductive Vivi (Amber Heard); she's a top level CIA agent who is still keen to find the Wolf. She believes that Renner can still help her, despite his current medical condition. In return, she has a secret serum that could just extend his lifespan.

With the carrot of living longer to spend with his family dangling over his head, Renner accepts the mission and soon finds himself hunting down the Wolf on the streets of Paris.

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It's easy to see why Costner may have got excited about this project. Not only is he hunting down killers like Neeson does, he even does it in Paris – just like Neeson did in Taken. On top of that, the script is from a story by Luc Besson, and with quirky director McG behind the camera, Costner must have thought he was onto a winner.

And ten minutes into the film it feels like he was right. And then, before our very eyes, it goes so terribly wrong. One clear warning sign was the film's 12A rating. It's far too cuddly a rating for anything remotely menacing. And as soon as the wife and daughter element are introduced, the film falls apart.

Instead of just using them as a device for Costner to puff out his chest and protect them at any cost, the film gets lost in the sappy father and daughter relationship it focuses on for far too much time. In doing so, the film loses sight of what its intentions are: is it an action thriller or is it really a family drama? It's never really clear, and the film fumbles throughout trying to work out what it should be, failing on all counts.

Director McG – whose real name is Joseph McGinty Nichol – has shown some real visual flair in the past, with films like 2000's Charlie's Angels and 2009's Terminator Salvation, but struggles beyond belief with this title. The only thing he really manages to do is make Paris look really, really cool, which couldn't have been that difficult. He also gives the briefest of flashes revealing that Costner definitely has it in him to do a Neeson and act the aging hard man with style. But for some reason, just chooses not to.

Perhaps both McG and Costner were concerned that his female demographic of followers wouldn't be able to accept the actor without seeing a cuddly, sensitive side on display and simply didn't commit to 100% hard man status. The result is simply a hardened CIA agent having his backbone removed before our very eyes, and it's a sad sight indeed.

Although casting Costner in such a role highlights his apparent need to reinvent himself in an attempt to become more bankable than he currently is, it also broadens the spotlight more generally concerning what to do with the big box office hitters of old. Actors such as Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Arnold Swarzenegger since he's come out of retirement, etc, have all struggled in finding roles that audiences will accept them in now that they are in the latter stages of their careers. Ford specifically is clearly yet another star concerned about where his future lies in film.

Over the years Ford has vehemently declared his dislike for his role as Han Solo specifically, and of the Star Wars franchise as a whole. Even during an interview with MTV in 2010 he announced "I'm done with him" in reference to the well-loved space pirate. And yet, this year it was revealed that he had signed on for J.J.Abram's Episode VII and seemed a happy little bunny for reprising his role once again. Considering the strong stance he took on this before, his change of heart may well be more about ego - and perhaps the readies -than anything else.

So no one can really blame Costner for wanting to be relevant to today's audiences. This won't do it for him though.

It's ironic that Besson co-wrote this screenplay from a story he created, considering he's also responsible for writing the original Taken and its subsequent sequels: 3 Days To Kill is inferior in every way and feels too much like the cast off that no-one else wanted. It's a weird hybrid of Taken, Leon and some lame film of the week drama about an absent father and his strained relationship with his daughter. The result is an absurd mess that struggles to shine on any level.

What's worse is the fact that despite the strong female cast comprising Heard, Nielson and Steinfield, the female characters are exceptionally poor in every way and are nothing short of embarrassing throughout. Heard in particular is dressed like a high end prostitute for the duration and there's a slight possibility that she was acting out a role from another film part she was sent, as her character just doesn't fit into proceedings.

With the Fields of Dreams star returning to more familiar sporty ground for his next two projects - Draft Day and McFarland - Costner may well be leaving the more action orientated stuff to the youngsters, but that's only if Neeson is too busy to do it.