If you are looking for an adventure movie, think again if this specific film is the one you're looking for. The plot was very simple and uninteresting. I was hoping for a Michael Mann and realistically expecting a Hollywood made Hong Kong style macho film. However this one was neither stylistic nor sophisticated enough to be those. It could be satisfactory if you're missing the younger Seagal of twenty years ago or are a shoot 'em up style computer games player expecting similar qualities in films. Even on these points the script was lousy and unenterprising. Here comes Hounsou the sniper as he targets the bad guys at their large and very brightly lit house, they all keep standing at the many windows like sitting ducks and wait to be taken out one by one.
So Hounsou in total kills 50 guys and expertly beats up 100, then there is a dash of Thai mysticism as a twist and the at the end we are reminded that the film was a noble statement against sex trafficking. I think the only thing that remains from this film is that Hounsou made his claim as the potential star of bigger action movies. He was covering Russell Crowe and Leo Caprio in his previous major roles and now he proves that he is ready to go at it alone. As opposed to his appreciated and strong acting in former films, he was too bland, unengaged and nasty this time even for the standards of a mercenary, so we have no Jackal here either. I think these might be a problem for him in the future lest he ends up becoming another Dolph Lundgren.
I can't seem to find a thing I liked about this film apart from watching nice bits of Thai noir cityscape. Well on that count this one was superior to Bangkok Dangerous I think (nice cinematography plus we were spared Nick Cage and his wig here). I don't care a lot about accents so for me Kevin Bacon's low key presence was negligible. Can't really recommend this film.
So Hounsou in total kills 50 guys and expertly beats up 100, then there is a dash of Thai mysticism as a twist and the at the end we are reminded that the film was a noble statement against sex trafficking. I think the only thing that remains from this film is that Hounsou made his claim as the potential star of bigger action movies. He was covering Russell Crowe and Leo Caprio in his previous major roles and now he proves that he is ready to go at it alone. As opposed to his appreciated and strong acting in former films, he was too bland, unengaged and nasty this time even for the standards of a mercenary, so we have no Jackal here either. I think these might be a problem for him in the future lest he ends up becoming another Dolph Lundgren.
I can't seem to find a thing I liked about this film apart from watching nice bits of Thai noir cityscape. Well on that count this one was superior to Bangkok Dangerous I think (nice cinematography plus we were spared Nick Cage and his wig here). I don't care a lot about accents so for me Kevin Bacon's low key presence was negligible. Can't really recommend this film.
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