Olga Kurylenko in Momentum (Starz Digital)

The first 10 minutes of Momentum features a ludicrously awful bank heist. The thieves are dressed all in black with motorcycle helmets, and their jumpsuits have what look like computerized, pulsating reflector tape. They all speak through voice distorters, presumably to skirt identity, but in actuality they sound like Cylons from the old Battlestar Galactica. The bank itself is mammoth. It looks more like a receiving hall for the pope. And the robbers are terrible at what they do. They scramble around maniacally pointing guns at hostages, argue among themselves, and scream a lot (screaming Cylons!).

Eventually, they get what they came for: diamonds. But before they leave, two of the thieves get into a scrap. One pulls the helmet off the other and ta-da…waves of crimson hair flow in slow motion. It’s a woman! And she’s apparently in a shampoo commercial.

Anyway, the film gets better, if only marginally, once the bandits are out of the bank and ditch the sci-fi costumes. Now we meet our heroine, Alex (Olga Kurylenko in a role that a decade ago would have been handed to Milla Jovovich without a second thought), and…well, some expendable folk. It turns out that she’s a master at breaking and entering, or “infiltration,” as it’s stated here. Nobody knows who she is. She is like a puff of smoke. Except now she’s been made and needs to go into deep hiding along with the diamonds. Alex has also accidentally pilfered a hard drive that belongs to a very powerful senator (the in-for-a-day, out-with-a-paycheck Morgan Freeman), so he sends a team of professional cleaners led by James Purefoy to retrieve the disk and eliminate anyone who’s come in contact with it. Action ensues.

This is not a terrible movie, nor a great one. It’s pretty much run-of-the-mill stuff. Director Stephen S. Campanelli is an A-list cameraman and Clint Eastwood’s go-to guy, so it has a strong visual palette. The script is smart enough to not make you feel like an idiot, but no more than that. Kurylenko is serviceable, but Purefoy, as head cleaner Mr. Washington, is a riot. Dressed impeccably and never raising his voice, he manages to suavely chew scenery as if he were Bruce in Jaws 1 through 4.

Of course, the filmmakers have to make sure there is at least one gratuitous ass-shot to make sure that we don’t take Kurylenko too seriously as a competent woman who can kick ass with the best of men. That (aside from the beginning) is the biggest beef I have with Momentum. Otherwise, you get what you pay for. A competent action film to pass the time.