Senseless

Rating: 5/10 (24 March 2009)

Some really horrific action sequences are on display here but the rest of the movie is just laughably bad. The plot hinges on ridiculous contrivances and bypasses so many plot holes. The characters increasingly are called upon to do the dumbest, craziest thing you can think of, while the actors go at every line with a heavy-handed seriousness, which would work if the movie made an ounce of sense. Instead, Cage and Byrne just look like they're trying too hard. The worst is the ending, which jumps the shark into flat-out parody of itself. How anyone thought this ending was the best they could have done is a mystery to me. During the screening I had the idea that this movie could have had the intense paranoia of "Arlington Road". Instead it does the laziest and most senseless thing every time.