Devoid of substance and plausibility, but for the better part a decent action flick. Altough the action bits are really good, there's too many flaws to get past for me to rate it any higher. One such defect is the absence of intelligent dialogue. Or perhaps I should say dialogue altogether, as the characters almost
spend more time talking to themselves than to eachother. None of them are particularily relatable either, and I didn't care much for who made it out alive by the end. I suppose Stallone's characters is meant to be some kind of anti-hero, but he is too stiff and emotionless for me to feel prompted to root for him. As for Antonio Banderas, well, he overplays his character so much that he often became a mere annoyance. The only saving grace in the cast is Julianne More, who at least gives a little effort in her acting. Anyhow, I couldn't help but draw parallels to Bangkok Dangerous, which is like a modern equivalent to this film, that suffers from similar plot problems. Gratefully, however, this isn't as bad. In conclusion: Fairly exciting, but nothing beyond the average.
April 27, 2007
