Reviews

When I picked up this DVD for £3 at my local supermarket, I knew I was in for a classic tale of mediocrity, sub par effects, and budget filmmaking.

I was not disappointed.

Acting: I've never seen death and hardship be portrayed in such a dead-pan and wooden manner. Thane's character was under-utilised as his screen presence was quite strong. The bad guys did a good job, but sometimes their writing wasn't believable - for example one of them seemed to be a really bad guy at times, but seemed to develop a kind of stockholm syndrome with the good guys, and this betrayed not only his character but the sense of antagonism and tension within the main 'party' of characters.

Story: A good overall storyline, actually very well paced. Ultimately, the fact that I watched the film in windowed mode while playing Guild Wars 2 speaks volumes about my interest in the on screen action. The introduction was very disappointing as nothing much really happened.

Visual effects: Obviously this is not a huge budget blockbuster, and so the effects are going to reflect this. Still, there was some skilled camera-work which helped mask some of the rougher edges.

Music and Sound: Unfortunately one of the weaker points of the movie. Some of the synthesised effects were very out of place for this genre of film. Also, for the first half there is this unusual helicopter synth sound that is pretty intrusive and goes on for several minutes. I don't know how this sound effect is at all related to progressing the narrative or reflecting the on screen action, it only served as an annoyance.

Conclusion: Why not? Just don't pay top dollar for it.

Also, that one 10 star review on here is obviously fake, right? I mean it has to be fake.

As a stereotypical action film review, I intend to split this review into "starter, main course, and dessert" for your action enjoyment:

The film really kicks off 13 minutes in where our main man Rick Yune displays exceptional gunplay ability, with a particular penchant for shredding his enemies' legs apart with wave after wave of lead. And this is just for starters...

Take one scene, Bokeem Woodbine lays the smackdown on a group of around 8 assailants, all while being unarmed. Why? Maybe his character is some scientific mash up of Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal. I don't know. In any case, the scene is pulled off with stylish camera work, and some cool looking fisticuffs. This main course is action packed, enjoyable, with a side order of dead bodies. Maybe...close to 100 of them.

And if that hasn't sated your appetite, for dessert, the antagonist (Roger Yuan) is exceptionally brutal and convincing in his attempts to kill everything in between him and his target (Dania Ramirez). The target who is such an arrogant, obnoxious character that at one point I was secretly hoping for her to get gunned into tiny, tiny pieces.

Conclusion: The plot is perhaps nothing to write home about. But the action is solid, the pacing is good, and all the ingredients of a great action movie are here for you to enjoy in some kind of crazy action soup.

(Thanks for sticking with all these food references!)

The good:

Kilmer pulls off a fairly believable psychopath, and there are some really great performances from those in the steam room, although they sometimes border on the "over-dramatic" rather than "convincing".

The music is not bad too, always reflective of the mood without becoming too invasive to the action on screen.

The bad:

Firstly, some of the scenes are quite drawn out with no sense of progression. Some of the steam room scenes are difficult to stick with, in particular one excessively long scene towards the end of the film. During this scene I looked at my watch to see how long was left on the viewing time - not a good sign if I was meant to be engrossed in the story.

Secondly, the method which the story unfolds seems fairly underwhelming. It felt as though there was more potential for the plot to thicken, particularly from those in the steam room. The captives also seem to have their own designated "turn" at falling apart/going mad, which is overall quite unconvincing and ultimately predictable.

So in conclusion, there are some good scenes, but this is not a film I will actively recommend to friends.