half-a$$ed attempt, salad bowl colossal

Rating: 5/10 (31 December 2005)

well, i waited months before writing about this movie. hmm... 1 the plot seems taken stitchwork from batman comics; take a bit here, pull a bit there, and fails to make sense at once. For example, a band of Asian, exalted ninjas supposed to guard peace suddenly turn into fanatic idiots wanting to poison an entire city and the only explanation are blurry lines. 2 we all guessed Batman had learnt fighting skills somewhere. The explanation is a bit too of a fairy tale and merely targets entertainment (CFR Van Damme's "The Quest" as opposed to "Bloodsport" ). 3 the idea of the confused, rich man leaving it all behind to live like a beggar etc is chewed to exhaustion, ranging from "the prince&the poor" to Mel Brooks. 4 Christian Bale is a Tom Cruise ripoff. Most rave about his "fantastic" performance...i honestly can't see anything above average...of course if one still thinks subplots like the hero standing up on a line between being an executioner and a compassionate law enforcer are new, then enjoy it. 5 Fight scenes are often blurred and unclear & the answer is not some secret filming technique or some religious twist, but the need to mask stand-ins & other shortcomings. "Bloodsport" was ten times better and that was a C movie with low budget. 6 It will please the eyes (somewhat) and the bland & gross tastes out there. Hint: such movies as "Casshern" go ten times further and are cheap C Japanese low budgets. 7 It is a salad bowl movie. They want to run ten thick subplots at once & cannot do it for each to a reasonable extent. The parade of stars such as Caine, Freeman, Neeson etc is half wasted as only Freeman & Neeson can leave an intelligible inprint. Now for god's sake don't tell me Gary Oldman made a difference in his role...what, ten lines? Caine as well is mostly wasted...