I respect John Woo's decision to try to make a film with no dialog and the story to be expressed through his imagery rather than a script. The problem is, however, that his imagery is not strong enough to hold my attention for as long as the film demanded, and the film's plot was also paper thin.
A lot of scenes come off as awkward, and unnatural because the characters should be talking, but for some inexplicable reason are not. I was starting to wonder if I had missed a scene where everybody gets shot in the neck, and not just the main character? It was ridiculous! Even when the wife is grieving with him and he goes all insane, throwing things and raging, she just stares at him and says nothing. Same with Kid Cudi's character. A lot of his screentime is just him staring at some photos or into a room without saying anything. Made the film almost unbearable to watch.
The plot itself was ripped right out of Death Sentence, which was also a ripoff of Death Wish. I'm thinking Hollywood needs either better ideas, or better filmmakers. I don't mind a reused idea, but reuse it with purpose, to expand or better the previous product. Neither happened here.
I also want to touch on how cheap the film looked. I'm not sure what the budget was, but surely they could have done better than this. The vast majority of the film is shot frenetically, so it's hard to see the action most of the time. It's also shot in some pretty low light, also making it difficult to see anything. The cinematography is what should draw people into this movie, considering that it probably didn't even have a script, and they couldn't even pull that off.
Overall, this film is a mess and a shame. Such a simple premise and you make one of the most boring and irritating action films I think I've ever seen. I'm going to rewatch Face/Off to make me forget this film ever happened.
0.5 shots in the neck out of 5.
A lot of scenes come off as awkward, and unnatural because the characters should be talking, but for some inexplicable reason are not. I was starting to wonder if I had missed a scene where everybody gets shot in the neck, and not just the main character? It was ridiculous! Even when the wife is grieving with him and he goes all insane, throwing things and raging, she just stares at him and says nothing. Same with Kid Cudi's character. A lot of his screentime is just him staring at some photos or into a room without saying anything. Made the film almost unbearable to watch.
The plot itself was ripped right out of Death Sentence, which was also a ripoff of Death Wish. I'm thinking Hollywood needs either better ideas, or better filmmakers. I don't mind a reused idea, but reuse it with purpose, to expand or better the previous product. Neither happened here.
I also want to touch on how cheap the film looked. I'm not sure what the budget was, but surely they could have done better than this. The vast majority of the film is shot frenetically, so it's hard to see the action most of the time. It's also shot in some pretty low light, also making it difficult to see anything. The cinematography is what should draw people into this movie, considering that it probably didn't even have a script, and they couldn't even pull that off.
Overall, this film is a mess and a shame. Such a simple premise and you make one of the most boring and irritating action films I think I've ever seen. I'm going to rewatch Face/Off to make me forget this film ever happened.
0.5 shots in the neck out of 5.