There's an irresistable temptation to describe "The Expatriate" as a discount version of the Jason Bourne series. Pretty much the whole package indicates it's the same product in a different wrapper: You get the handsome CIA agent; the exotic European location; the order issued from Langley to rub out or arrest said handsome agent, for muddled reasons; the pileup of bodies and cars; and the artistically choreographed explosions, standard fare for 21st-century action movies.
These are all there, and "The Expatriate" even offers a bit more: a father-daughter story that recalls another similar series, "Taken." In short, if "The Expatriate" isn't a knockoff, end-of-the-season sale item, it's a buy-one-get-one-free thing. Like, get two genre-driven action spy thrillers for the price of one, sort of. Emphasis on the "sort of."
Still, "The Expatriate" does have an agenda to call its own, and a potentially powerful one. Aaron Eckhart ("The Dark Knight," "Thank You For Smoking") stars as Ben Logan, an ex-CIA agent who has knocked about in Europe for years, speaks five languages and has killed more people than he'd care to remember. Back in the U.S. Logan has a family he hardly ever thinks about, but then his wife dies and estranged teenage daughter Amy (Liana Liberato) shows up to lay claim on his time and support. Logan thinks he can do it. He's now a respectable employee of a highly esteemed company specializing in locks. Amy need never know about his past as a spy, so how hard could it be?