PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Denzel Washington: ex-CIA agent Tobin Frost
Ryan Reynolds: low level CIA agent Matt Weston
Brendan Gleeson: his boss David Barlow
Liam Cunningham: MI6 operative Alec Wade
Vera Farmiga: Catherine Linkater
Sam Shepard: CIA Director Harlan Whitford
Robert Patrick: CIA interrogation squad team leader Daniel Kiefer
REVIEW
They have squandered the talents (and good looks) of an A-list cast with a clunker. What a mess, literally, because it’s shot almost entirely with a hand-held camera resulting in jerky indistinct images flitting by. The editing it seems was done trying not to have any one scene appear for more than two seconds, three at most.
Despite this meat-cleaver style of editing too much has been left in with the result it goes on for almost 2 hours. That’s far too long for a movie that has very little in the way of a script with hardly any character development relying instead on non-stop action. It simply charges ahead at breakneck speed without much regard to telling a story, one that’s been done better by others many times before. Typical of this genre, it’s purposely confusing so you wind up scratching your head wondering “what the heck was that all about?”.
One more thing: bring ear protection because everything is loud, really loud and if you have something to say to your neighbour be prepared to shout. Better still: skip the whole thing and don’t waste two hours of your time.
CLASSIFICATION
FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Matt winds up with a scratch that looks like railway tracks near the temple on the right side of his face. Throughout the film it changes from a single scratch to a double one.
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