Sadly a victim of poor-to-no marketing pre-release, this fantastic action thriller did not find an audience theatrically, though the word-of-mouth was uniformly damning with high praise (not faint).
Everyone wanted a PG-13 actioner at the time, and got confused at Yakin (Remember the Titans) being behind-the-scenes, and did not know what to expect. It was something which could've been fixed by smart marketing, esp. in a world stuck to the internet but no, they almost released this direct to video, and both fans of the genre, fans of the star possibly missed out on a very engaging, balls-to-the-wall (soft) R-rated actioner, that's one of the better genre things that Statham has done, and is yet to better.
A kinda throwback to the 80s and 90s thrillers, it almost feels like something Shane Black would've written. The flashbacks, and flashback-within-flashbacks structure, for a change, works very well, and this flick possibly has one of the longest setups ever in this kind of a movie, running close to the 1st 30 minutes. Miss even 5 of those, and you'll think you have it figured later, but would do better to revisit the minutes you missed initially.
The casting is pitch-perfect, with Statham and everyone else (esp. the heavies) playing to their strengths.
The biggest strength this movie has going for it, aside from the fact that there's a genuine sense of urgency and dread in each and every sequence, aside from the fact that everyone's playing it seriously and nothing's for a laugh, is the fantastic action choreography, perhaps the best yet this side of a Bourne movie. You could have had Daniel Craig or Liam Neeson playing the lead, and neither star wouldn't be outa place in this action thriller.
Lean and mean, and packed with moments that have unexpected payoffs, this is one for repeated viewings. In fact, I'm writing this after having watched this for the 4th time, with my first 2 viewings being at the cinema, thankfully with a like-minded audience.
Perfect, and I do hope it has a decent life at least on video. I, for one, got optimistic after viewing this, but was let down by most of Statham's choices after.
Everyone wanted a PG-13 actioner at the time, and got confused at Yakin (Remember the Titans) being behind-the-scenes, and did not know what to expect. It was something which could've been fixed by smart marketing, esp. in a world stuck to the internet but no, they almost released this direct to video, and both fans of the genre, fans of the star possibly missed out on a very engaging, balls-to-the-wall (soft) R-rated actioner, that's one of the better genre things that Statham has done, and is yet to better.
A kinda throwback to the 80s and 90s thrillers, it almost feels like something Shane Black would've written. The flashbacks, and flashback-within-flashbacks structure, for a change, works very well, and this flick possibly has one of the longest setups ever in this kind of a movie, running close to the 1st 30 minutes. Miss even 5 of those, and you'll think you have it figured later, but would do better to revisit the minutes you missed initially.
The casting is pitch-perfect, with Statham and everyone else (esp. the heavies) playing to their strengths.
The biggest strength this movie has going for it, aside from the fact that there's a genuine sense of urgency and dread in each and every sequence, aside from the fact that everyone's playing it seriously and nothing's for a laugh, is the fantastic action choreography, perhaps the best yet this side of a Bourne movie. You could have had Daniel Craig or Liam Neeson playing the lead, and neither star wouldn't be outa place in this action thriller.
Lean and mean, and packed with moments that have unexpected payoffs, this is one for repeated viewings. In fact, I'm writing this after having watched this for the 4th time, with my first 2 viewings being at the cinema, thankfully with a like-minded audience.
Perfect, and I do hope it has a decent life at least on video. I, for one, got optimistic after viewing this, but was let down by most of Statham's choices after.