Finally, I like a movie the "professional" reviewers liked!

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2007)

Wow! So nice to go to a movie and be totally entertained! I guess Hollywood has to do remakes of older movies to have a shot at putting out a good one these days. I never saw the original version of this one, but this version is fantastic! (I gave it a nine because ten should be considered virtually unattainable, to me anyway) The acting is excellent by all. There is action, humor, and a hint of "romance" (a veiled sex scene, I guess some people consider that romance). I've only seen bits and pieces of Russell Crowe in other movies. He plays the part of the extremely evil villain, that somehow seems likable, excellently. There are even a few good messages this film presents, but I don't want to discuss them, because I would have to check the "spoiler" box. The "R" rating is pretty much just for a few profanities, and fairly graphic violence, but it is much tamer on the senses than the current crop of gross-out movies. I think children as young as 12 (at least boys) could handle this movie without creating haunting images in their minds that could last the rest of their lives (like I still have from some movies I saw when I was a young teen), since the violence is on par with many video games they have probably seen or played before. I would be surprised if anyone did not like this movie, unlike so many of the critics favorites, which I am tempted to walk out on most of the time.