Short Review: Odd that they would name a movie after the production's target audience.



This is a calorie-ridden, cellulose gum stuffed, FD&C Yellow 5 soaked Twinkie of a movie - but not in a good way.

Action movies are action movies - they are big, loud, stupid and violent. This movie has all of those characteristics. It also has all of the now, sadly traditional action film events - the slow-motion group walk where everyone wears sunglasses and looks oh so, cool. The heroic slow-motion entry with two automatic weapons in each hand ready for a fight, the slow-motion fight sequence than suddenly speeds up to normal pace...


Now that I think about it, this film could have halved its running time if they removed the slow motion sequences.

The movie is about a group of snappy dialog prone spies/soliders/assassins/psychopaths/fashion dolls who get burned by a boss during a job in Bolivia. The crew is targeted for death during a search and destroy mission. The assassination fails and the crew disbands. They regroup when a Zoe Saldana shows up. Zoe knows who tried to kill the killers and the killers set out to kill the man who tried to kill them.

A quick side note, have you noticed that in nearly every movie Zoe Saldana has been in she is covered in a glistening oil so she looks sweaty and always romps with the white guy?

So, the team heads out and hunts down the big bad guy Max (Jason Patric). Since there is no way to make Jason Patric ominous, apparently the plan was to make his character unbelievably obnoxious. Max is perhaps the most unlikeable bad guy, not because he's violent, evil and cruel - but because he spouts pea-brained dialog and is hyper sensitive. At one point he murders a woman who is holding an umbrella over his head, because she slipped. I've pointed this out in other reviews - if you are writing a bad guy, it serves no purpose showing him being so trigger happy with his minions that he will kill one over literally nothing. The minions, out of survival, will kill the bad guy the first chance they have. The dismissive murder of an underling to show a villain's psychosis also reveals their lack of leadership skills. It breaks natural logic and heightens the stupidity of a movie. Stop doing it.

Ok, so there is a team of killers who almost get killed. They identify the guy who wanted them dead and head out kill him. I assume you can write the next sentence in this sequence. This is paint by the numbers, see it a thousand times film making - and since you've already seen this a thousand times, there is no reason to make it one thousand one. Skip this.


Related Reviews:
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Avatar (2009)
Star Trek (2009)


Other Critic's Reviews:
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Watching Movies Through a Christian Lens

Labels: Chris Evans, Columbus Short, film, Holt McCallany, Idris Elba, Jason Patric, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, movie review, Peter Berg, Zoe Saldana

So, Maria Bello portrays a psycho wife who runs off on her husband and lures a guy to kill her but then falls in love with her potential killer?

And the reason to watch this apparently depraved, depressing flick would be..?




Screenwriters: Pamela Cuming and Lee Ross
Director: Johan Renck
Actors: Maria Bello (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), Jason Patrick (Narc), Rufus Sewell (John Adams) and Amy Brenneman (The Jane Austen Book Club)

Labels: film, Jason Patric, Maria Bello, movie trailer, Rufus Sewell

Screenwriters: Jeremy Leven (The Legend of Bagger Vance) and Nick Cassavetes (Blow)
Director: Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook)
Actors: Abigail Breslin (Nim's Island), Sofia Vassilieva, Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary), Jason Patric (Speed 2: Cruise Control) and Alec Baldwin (The Good Shepherd)

Labels: Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz, film, Jason Patric, movie trailer

Short Review: Sometimes actors can outshine the script they are working with. Of course, the problem is that no matter how great the acting is, the script still stinks.


I don’t have much to add to the short review above. Ray Liotta and Jason Patrick are very good in this flawed and depressing film. The production itself doesn't offer too much in return for your investment of time other than infusing more depression into your life. Watch the film and perhaps you'll give it a second thought later in the day and then wonder why you’re in such a foul mood. If you’re already cranky and want to pile on some bad vibes, this is the flick for you. If you’re not big into that whole “the world is horrible and everything is corrupt” thing, keep moving away from this movie and don’t look back.


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Labels: film, Jason Patric, movie review, ray liotta

Think of it this way, if you were in school when this film was released; it is to kids today what those goofy monster movies of your parent’s generation were to you. This was made for a specific audience and a specific time. It is doubtful other age groups would respond as positively to this cheap Hollywood pap. This said, it is still fun and stupid – Jack Bauer is coming to bite you.


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Labels: Dianne Wiest, film, Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, movie review