The Bricklayer

The Bricklayer is an action thriller about a former CIA operative, Steve Vail, who is pulled back into service when someone begins killing foreign journalists and framing the agency for the murders. As governments around the world turn against the United States, Vail is asked to identify whoever is behind the campaign. Paired with Kate Bannon, a colleague sent to keep him in check, he finds himself facing a conspiracy that reaches further than a single killer.

The film was directed by Renny Harlin, the twenty-first entry in a career of twenty-eight features, arriving between The Misfits and Refuge. Aaron Eckhart plays Vail, with Nina Dobrev as Kate, Clifton Collins Jr. as Radek, Tim Blake Nelson as O'Malley, Ilfenesh Hadera as Tye and Oliver Trevena as Patricio. Matt Johnson and Hanna Weg wrote the screenplay, and Gerard Butler served among the producers on a production shot in Greece and the United States with a budget of about 24 million dollars.

The Bricklayer was released in December 2023 and runs 110 minutes. Its reception has been modest across the board: on IMDb it holds 5.2 out of 10 from roughly 14,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.8 from around 400. A critics' rating of 5.2 from 24 reviews indicates that professional assessments land close to the audience average, with neither group rating the film highly.