It is a fun movie to watch although you'll fast forward through some spots. But don't expect any logic, proper timing, common sense or plot. Best Part: Any scene with Angeles Woo in it. She might not be the best person for her role but you'll like this unexpected female assassin. Of all the characters, she is the only one that I think I would watch a movie just because she was in it.
PLOT. On the surface a lawyer is framed for a murder. But there are loosely connected subplots of two female assassins (which actually is one of the better parts of the movie) with ties to the company; a weak son about to become President of the company; a woman seeking resolution of her fiancée's death from three years before; a bad cop, who's not very good, paired with a good cop who is amazingly good and a semi-Sherlock Holmes/Jackie Chan blend (although we almost never see bad/good cops together); the creation of an illegal super soldier type drug. A good movie could piece some of these together. This movie doesn't.
IRRATIONAL. As the good cop very early shows, the lawyer is not the right suspect. No Motive. No murder weapon (tie). Not left handed. Why kill in his own apartment and call the cops? Yet even after very public attempts to kill him, leaving others dead, he's still treated as a suspect by most.
He's a lawyer and they try to put him in that role. When given a gun, he says he can't shot someone so is told to shot them in the leg. Yet this guy can outfight a trained police officer, drives like a professional driver and once given that gun, starts killing people with his first shot.
When the drug company, who has been trying to kill the lawyer throughout the movie, finally catch him then what do they do? Even with dozens of human guinea pigs in cells, they decide to experiment on him and give him the super soldier drug which makes him super strong and irrational. Not only that but the guy who did the original actual murder, who more than anyone should have this person dead, is the one who gives him the injection. This fits perfectly with the Austin Powers move quote:
Dr. Evil: Begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism. Dr. Evil: Close the tank! Scott Evil: Wait, aren't you even going to watch them? They could get away! Dr. Evil: No no no, I'm going to leave them alone and not actually witness them dying, I'm just gonna assume it all went to plan. What?
During the gunfight at the house, some stray shots help open a hidden compartment with evidence and a letter from the long dead fiancée explaining why he did what he did. You'd think he'd have explained this to her after his suicide. But no - he hides it in a spot that might never have been uncovered if it were not for the gunfight.
Important to the plot is a photo of the chemical formula on his hand. Would it not have been more simple to write the formula down instead of taking a B&W picture of your hand and then printing that off.
When the good cop comes into the drug company and implies he has the formula the company has been searching for for three years - they do the logical thing. But him into a fight with the drugged up super soldier lawyer.
And what formula is so complicated that it can be written in one line on the palm of your hand yet a large lab with dozens of researchers can't figure it out for more than three years?
PIECES MISSING. I like it when a movie purposely leaves you wondering of something. In this case you can't help but feel the pieces are missing due to poor writing, editing or direction. No resolution to who the cleaning lady is that the lawyer had never seen before. How does good cop know about bad cop's addiction? How do they know what the chemical composition of his drugs are? Yet it isn't reported. Common on bad TV but the speed of processing evidence is amazing with fingerprints and blood analysis done the next day. Was the horse shot? (That's just me wanting to know.) Why did the cop keep a vial of the drug and then say "we'll be busy"? How does the murdered woman know the access to the apartment? What did woman with dead fiancée and lawyer talk about until 1 am? Why did the female assistant have the badge for the good cop at the end - how did his superior know what was going on?
COINCIDENCES. If you like deus ex machina in your movies, and most don't, then this is the movie for you. The female assassin who is hired to kill the lawyer is the same one he met in a bar at the start of the movie (another interesting part of the movie). That assassin has strong connections to the drug company the lawyer works for. A woman seeking him out after blaming him for the death of her fiancée three years ago - instead falls in love with him, has lots of property and staff, has hunting weapons, is good with fighting etc. She agrees to meet with him the next day so they pick... a subway station which fortunately is great as it allows him to get away from those immediately chasing him. He seeks shelter in a homeless community and happens to pick the one the drug company uses for human guinea pigs.
Often when you watch an action movie that is a confusing mess, and there are many of them, the action distracts you from this until the movie is finished. Sadly in this movie - that doesn't happen. Every time there is another disconnected piece (injected drug, cop popping pills, good cop still in remorse over his girlfriend/wife's death, amazing rural property with horses, parade with the President of the drug company) you are jolted from the flow and wonder what is going on? A good movie would have connected this all - this didn't.
PLOT. On the surface a lawyer is framed for a murder. But there are loosely connected subplots of two female assassins (which actually is one of the better parts of the movie) with ties to the company; a weak son about to become President of the company; a woman seeking resolution of her fiancée's death from three years before; a bad cop, who's not very good, paired with a good cop who is amazingly good and a semi-Sherlock Holmes/Jackie Chan blend (although we almost never see bad/good cops together); the creation of an illegal super soldier type drug. A good movie could piece some of these together. This movie doesn't.
IRRATIONAL. As the good cop very early shows, the lawyer is not the right suspect. No Motive. No murder weapon (tie). Not left handed. Why kill in his own apartment and call the cops? Yet even after very public attempts to kill him, leaving others dead, he's still treated as a suspect by most.
He's a lawyer and they try to put him in that role. When given a gun, he says he can't shot someone so is told to shot them in the leg. Yet this guy can outfight a trained police officer, drives like a professional driver and once given that gun, starts killing people with his first shot.
When the drug company, who has been trying to kill the lawyer throughout the movie, finally catch him then what do they do? Even with dozens of human guinea pigs in cells, they decide to experiment on him and give him the super soldier drug which makes him super strong and irrational. Not only that but the guy who did the original actual murder, who more than anyone should have this person dead, is the one who gives him the injection. This fits perfectly with the Austin Powers move quote:
Dr. Evil: Begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism. Dr. Evil: Close the tank! Scott Evil: Wait, aren't you even going to watch them? They could get away! Dr. Evil: No no no, I'm going to leave them alone and not actually witness them dying, I'm just gonna assume it all went to plan. What?
During the gunfight at the house, some stray shots help open a hidden compartment with evidence and a letter from the long dead fiancée explaining why he did what he did. You'd think he'd have explained this to her after his suicide. But no - he hides it in a spot that might never have been uncovered if it were not for the gunfight.
Important to the plot is a photo of the chemical formula on his hand. Would it not have been more simple to write the formula down instead of taking a B&W picture of your hand and then printing that off.
When the good cop comes into the drug company and implies he has the formula the company has been searching for for three years - they do the logical thing. But him into a fight with the drugged up super soldier lawyer.
And what formula is so complicated that it can be written in one line on the palm of your hand yet a large lab with dozens of researchers can't figure it out for more than three years?
PIECES MISSING. I like it when a movie purposely leaves you wondering of something. In this case you can't help but feel the pieces are missing due to poor writing, editing or direction. No resolution to who the cleaning lady is that the lawyer had never seen before. How does good cop know about bad cop's addiction? How do they know what the chemical composition of his drugs are? Yet it isn't reported. Common on bad TV but the speed of processing evidence is amazing with fingerprints and blood analysis done the next day. Was the horse shot? (That's just me wanting to know.) Why did the cop keep a vial of the drug and then say "we'll be busy"? How does the murdered woman know the access to the apartment? What did woman with dead fiancée and lawyer talk about until 1 am? Why did the female assistant have the badge for the good cop at the end - how did his superior know what was going on?
COINCIDENCES. If you like deus ex machina in your movies, and most don't, then this is the movie for you. The female assassin who is hired to kill the lawyer is the same one he met in a bar at the start of the movie (another interesting part of the movie). That assassin has strong connections to the drug company the lawyer works for. A woman seeking him out after blaming him for the death of her fiancée three years ago - instead falls in love with him, has lots of property and staff, has hunting weapons, is good with fighting etc. She agrees to meet with him the next day so they pick... a subway station which fortunately is great as it allows him to get away from those immediately chasing him. He seeks shelter in a homeless community and happens to pick the one the drug company uses for human guinea pigs.
Often when you watch an action movie that is a confusing mess, and there are many of them, the action distracts you from this until the movie is finished. Sadly in this movie - that doesn't happen. Every time there is another disconnected piece (injected drug, cop popping pills, good cop still in remorse over his girlfriend/wife's death, amazing rural property with horses, parade with the President of the drug company) you are jolted from the flow and wonder what is going on? A good movie would have connected this all - this didn't.