Overblown Rubbish

Rating: 2/10 (23 September 2009)

Few movies can be considered dreadful enough to not have any redeeming charecteristics; this is one of them. Nothing could have saved this movie. I am writing this review in a state of rage, anger, embaressment (of having been seen watching the movie), and pain. So where exactly did this movie go wrong? It had a great cast, an all-star cast if you will. The movie had tons of money to spare, as could be seen by the liberal use of the special effects budget and the enormous sums paid out to the numerous big-name actors. Steve Buscemi was in it, and he is in many good movies. So what is wrong. First of all, the acting was dreadful. I sensed that every actor was delivering the lines the same way that a hostage reads his ransom note. They seemed to be in constant pain and were probably kicking themselves for accepting such a poor script. The lines were delivered with a lack of coviction and sense of reality. Now onto to reality; this movie is not reality. The Rock was more realistic than this. Wait...wait Star Wars was more realistic than this. OK, no biggie. Action films are never supposed to coincide perfectly with realism. However this film goes so far from the laws of physics that it is unforgivable. For example, what happens when a motorcyle crashes into a fire truck? That's right: it explodes. Or what happens when a large transport plain crashes in Vegas? Yep, that's right: it skids for a few miles without going off of the road. Furthermore, nothing was ever explained. How was 'The Virus' able to hijack a fire engine and why didn't anybody stop Poe from getting onto the police bike? It's pathetic. Steve Buscemi was another problem. I saw the movie looking up for a short period of time when he appeared, then what happens? He has tea with a little girl and she 'reforms' him. I can't think of something more cliché than the child reformer. Oh yeah and children should never be allowed to sing in movies, or at all. The ending was so overblown and corny that it became completely unwatchable. I understand that I view this differently than most other folks here, but I couldn't bear to see Poe reunited with his family. I thought this was an action movie not the second coming of the Sugar Plum fairy.