“Kandahar” (*1/2 out of four) was an insipid action melodrama about a C.I.A. operative (Gerard Butler) and his translator (Navid Negahban) who find themselves on the run after their cover is blown and they uncover a sinister conspiracy in Afghanistan involving both the Afghan and U.S. governments. Attempt to inject topicality into a standard Butler action thriller is an almost complete bore; by the time you sort out the muddle, film is too far gone for it to matter and final third (when film finally picks up) looks like outtakes from “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Even Butler just seems to be going through the motions here. This was the second American film to be filmed entirely in Saudi Arabia.