User Reviews

I gave his movie a 5 because it is fun to see local settings and the movie was generally entertaining. It combines well worn plot lines from the last 30 or 40 years. The suffering cop, the vigilante cop, the hapless victim trying to escape a world not of his choice, the innocent little girl, the nasty alpha female, the wannabe trying to follow big bad daddy and of course the ex military man become holy and our ace in the sleeve. Totally predictable. It would have been cool if Jet Li and Mel Gibson were going at each other, but this is B grade from the start. Riddled with clichés.. the mobster, the caddy, the camera angles, the stand-offs. If you live or know Toronto well and want to feel nostalgic, enjoy for the settings, but not much else. Oh there is some eye candy for both sides, again cliché!

Hi. I like a good crime-thriller as much as the next guy and always like my vengeance served cold. Cuba, Slater -- interesting team-up and there's another movie they did together I'd check out. They are not the problem here. Kim Coates I know from "SOA" and swore I thought that was the name of a SI Swimsuit Model from the 90s. I'll even overlook his almost-good performance.

The major problem is every other male in the film. EVERY OTHER MALE. From the teenage drug turncoat, to Coates' char.'s son (especially him) to Cuba's partner -- all were miscast. Their voices were not masculine at all. They didn't have great lines to start, so they were already at a disadvantage, but it sounded like they'd all been kicked in the genitals right before the director yelled "action!" Hey, I get it, b/c I'd be slightly intimidated calling Cuba a "dumb n-word cop" or having to fake-kick some scrappy 16 year old and telling him to "get up, f-word that rhymes with 'maggot.'" But the actual, sounds of their voices lacked any confidence or the reassurance that gravity had worked its magic on their testicles.

Beyond that -- here's some tips. If a thug punches a cop, and then shoots at other cops in a sporting arena, I seriously doubt one of the cops being shot at would tell his partner that "he can't hit (the shooter)" in the middle of a hostage crisis. Really? I'm supposed to believe that a cop's partner would try to dissuade him from punching out a shooter? That was the opening sequence.

re: Dialogue -- this goes out to all movie makers -- if one more pretend-priest mutters the words "The Lord works in mysterious ways" and is not immediately hit with a pie, I will demand a refund. I felt bad for Slater, who had to utter that actual cliché (and a couple of others) in a film he and Cuba and Agent Perez from "Saw 4" could've elevated from a C to a B-.

Oh, and actress who played Jade, you stunk. Your delivery was awful. Those were supposed to be fake drugs you were dealing and using, but I guess they call it method acting for a reason.

The whole movie didn't stink, but most of it did. Cuba does his best with what he's got. Slater -- eh, not great. I can't help but feel that Michael Madsen was missing from the picture. Fine actor, also. Probably could've played Coates' role a bit better.

Saw this on an instant streaming service with an instantly identifiable shade of red, so my expectations were lowered but I'm still underwhelmed. Want to see a good streaming flick? See Madsen's "The Killing Jar." That's doing a lot with a little. But skip "Being Michael Madsen" and "Road of No Return."

Cuba Gooding Jr is a troubled cop in Toronto who can't get past the death of his wife and child. He crosses paths with a young kid named Mike who is being used to sell drugs for some local dealers and the kid wants out but they won't let him go. Mike takes one of several statues which is made out of heroin to be sent to LA and gives it to a priest at a local church (Christian Slater) and the dealers need the statue to complete the deal. That's pretty much it. Cuba and Slater put in very good performances in my opinion as does the dealers father (Kim Coates.) I noticed some mistakes though as much of the movie is filmed in Ottawa. The arena is actually the home of the Ottawa 67s junior team and the former AAA Ottawa Lynx baseball stadium is visible when Cuba meets Coates for the exchange at the end. The factoids were pretty meaningless too. All things considered though I did enjoy the movie

Cuba was an undercover cop separated from his family. He gets found out and his family is killed. Afterward, he teams up with Jack Daniels to live a miserable life as the Toronto police force's "Dirty Harry light". In the city there is a drug lord with a techno dance club, where sex can be had in the restrooms as lovers snort lines off each others body (you know the place). Mike, a young drug dealer wants out. He cares for his younger sister. He hijacks a statue of the Virgin Mary made of heroin paste and ransoms its location to his former employer (guess how that works out).

I didn't think Cuba could get a worse role after "Hit List", but I was wrong. After so many good films, he is getting dog after dog. It is time for a new agent. The film has the lousy plot of a disjointed grindhouse film, but none of the other qualities that make it watchable. During the argument/fight between two guys over who took the statue, the acting got so bad I had to ask, "Was this really the best take? Couldn't they have shot the scene over?"

The movie pretends to make a statement on drug trafficking and redemption, but falls way short.

This film has it all: The cop, the drugs, the cartel, and a priest(?) The cop troubled by the loss of his family, who works vice, who drinks and doesn't play by the rules. The drugs made into a statue, and put into a church by mistake. The cartel want it back. So the cop and the priest are gonna stop them. However these plot lines are put together with such a lack of skill that this film is irritating from the start.

The cartel import and sell drugs. They swear a lot and have guns. Some of them are quite muscled. None of them can fight. No scene involving the cartel is in any way memorable. The priest (Christian Slater) used to be special forces. Neither the cartel or the priest are well acted.

Okay, so the cop lost his family but just in case you can't pick up on that there's loads of flashback scenes of family together and too many more of them getting killed. He works vice he licks mysterious white powders to identify them. Yes, it really is that bad. And his drinking is not believable: there's lots of scenes of him drinking alcohol - hip flasks, mixing into coffee, washing down the aspirin while driving, etc - but never as much as would get anyone drunk. He doesn't play by the rules: he goes to a gun fight with only his fists, then he decides to face down a speeding car with armed folk inside shooting at him on foot with just his handgun, then he decides that the best course of action would be to ambush the cartel in the church with just him and the priest. Utter balls.

There's lots of shooting and people dying. There's drug use and sex but without any point. Most of it could have been implied and then this mess could have been shown on TV.

The end doesn't come soon enough.