Reviews

While watching this I felt like I had been transported back in time to the 80s. Except I wasn't watching a good 80s action movie; instead I was watching a bad 80s action movie.

Every scene is contrived; a character races across the desert at triple-digit speeds, in a 1000+ horsepower Corvette, without ever needing to stop to refuel. Characters in moving vehicles win a shootout against a barricaded opponent who knows they will be facing trouble. A character standing in the open defeats a squad of FBI HRT operators. A helicopter loses track of a car traveling on the only road for hundreds of miles. The antagonist drives in reverse at, what appears to be, double digit speeds, etc. This movie is one giant facepalm.

I imagine that we are supposed to be left in suspense, on a journey with the protagonists, in an attempt to guess at what the antagonist will do next. Instead we are left baffled by the buffoonery of the Federal agents and the obviousness of everything.

Bottom line: if you're looking to relive the days of bad 80s action movies; this one is for you.

The most interesting thing about this movie is how or why it was produced. It's a waste of time. As previous reviewers have said "Tom Cruise" displays no range. The acting, plot and scenes are boring and unoriginal.

There's an inexplicable use of the M14 rifle that I just cannot explain. I suspect, for budget, reasons almost everyone uses this rifle in the movie. The technical aspects of using a long-gun are ignored; the antagonist shoots rapidly and accurately, at long distances, across water and open spaces, without a spotter.

Robert Duvall manages to provide the only relief in this movie; comedic or otherwise. Even his character uses an M14 and manages to annoy me with whatever he's doing, with his ear, towards the end of the movie.