Catnip for men who are still boys at heart

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2015)

In a period when the Hollywood studios stuff scripts with elements to appeal to every viewer demographic, this grindhouse style action picture keeps the focus on gunfights and car chases. However there is a style and intelligence present in this script that elevate the experience way above the norm for the genre.
I was reminded of Jack Reacher (2012), Payback (1999) and Get Carter (1971). All R rated movies, unfortunately for the 15 year old boys who would absolutely love them. It's irritating to me that the commercial need for the PG-13 rating has steered action films toward the comic book adaptations where death on screen is generally avoided. Although the film takes place in a heightened fantasy version of New York, it maintains a quite realistic style of fighting and action choreography. Most of the fights are settled by someone getting shot and killed.
There are a lot of angry, one-star reviews on IMDb. These are from people who don't like the genre and were expecting something character-driven. The professional reviewers rated the picture on how well it achieves what it set out to do, and it was quite well-reviewed indeed by those professionals.
The release didn't have a huge push behind it and it was a so-so performer at the domestic box office, but I think the essential enjoyability and quality here will translate into strong results as a rental. It did manage to edge out Expendables 3, a massively dumb effort to appeal to the same audience, and one that was crippled by its efforts to achieve a PG-13 and a broader appeal. It's good to see Keanu Reeves here in a project that is a perfect fit for his screen presence.