Tony Scott has always been all about style over substance. He is very adept at giving audiences visually arresting puffs of nothingness. In the case of this film, Scott opens with a very strong beginning and maintains the tension for a while but then descends into haphazard action film nonsense. Denzel Washington gives a dominating performance as Creasy, an alcoholic former assassin who is haunted by his past. Creasy is given the simple job of looking over the daughter of an industrialist in Mexico City. When the girl, Pita (Dakota Fanning) is kidnapped, Creasy goes on the hunt, leaving what appears to be half of the population of Mexico City in his wake.

Washington has plenty of meat to dig his teeth into with this role and be pulls out a very good performance. Even though the script leaves him stranded half way through, Washington still manages to find enough in his role to keep the production afloat. The problem with the production, and the reason it ultimately fails, is because the story shifts gears too broadly and we move from a well paced thriller to hurried shoot-em-up/revenge flick. The groundwork laid down in the first half isn’t comfortably resolved in the second and this gives the film a half-finished quality.

This by no means is Tony Scott’s worst film, he has plenty of titles vying for that position, but it isn’t one he should be clasping his lapels over either. This is a missed opportunity and little else. If you’re a big fan of Denzel Washington, it may be worth your while to see his performance, but you really have to like the guy.


Related Reviews:
American Gangster (2007)
Out of Time (2004)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Flick Fliosopher
Film Jerk

Labels: Christopher Walkin, Dakota Fanning, Denzil Washington, film, movie review