Good, but underwhelming

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2014)

The opening scene set the tone for what was to come in the next two hours. What should have been a jolting and gripping experience, ended up underwhelming. The events should have made for a dramatic and even suspenseful sequence, but the ancillary movie elements added little to the scene.
A chicken is tied to a post. We can sense its fear. It knows it has no chance of survival in this environment so it flees from this world of death and destruction. The tormentors give chase and we see the chicken desperately seeking salvation through escape. The metaphor is not lost. This is a corrupt and loathsome place, and escape to the safety of an outside world is the only way to live. Beautiful. I want to love this opening, but something just isn't quite there. I can see and comprehend the message, but I just don't feel it.
Then a young man emerges and stalks the chicken from behind as a group of gangsters armed with machine guns watches him approach their target. More armed gangsters appear, and soon the young man and the chicken are surrounded. The young man surveys the area and hesitates. My heart should be pounding, but I remain perfectly tranquil. The ideas and events are in place. This quality of this premise is off the charts. We can already imagine that this film will be about choices that lead people down different paths in life. We envision the different themes emerging, such as the unjust suffering of innocents, like the chicken. This movie should have me on the edge of my seat and on the brink of emotional eruption, but it doesn't.
Not much changes during the remainder of the film. The storytelling is phenomenal, aside from a few over explanations via flashbacks. The acting is hit and miss. The characters entice, but fail to completely generate the attachment to them that I wanted to feel. In the word, the film was underwhelming.
So much potential, not completely wasted, but not completely utilized either. A good movie that should have been great.