Surprising

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2012)

I was searching on Netflix for something I hadn't seen and passed over this title many times. I didn't think a movie about a drug would interest me much, but there wasn't much else to see so I watched this. Lo and behold, I was pleasantly surprised, at least throughout MOST of it. I thought that Brad Cooper was perfectly cast, along with the entire cast in this thriller that managed to be original when I thought I'd seen it all. There were plenty of nail-biting moments at every turn. Lots of intrigue and unanswered questions that kept me wanting to know more. I'd have to watch it again to give it a fine-tooth-comb review, but there were a couple weaknesses that stood out. For one thing, I kept wondering why, after being stalked and chased by mysterious bad guys, no one ever thought to simply go to the police? It seems highly unlikely that a man wielding a knife chasing a woman through central Manhattan--even onto the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center--would not arouse the authorities or bystanders or someone to intervene. It just didn't seem plausible. Then there was the high-security apartment that he bought for $8.5 million. He shelled out all that $ for all that protection, yet the bad guys were still somehow able to break in using power tools, without the police or a concierge ever having been called? (I know, Brad Cooper took out his cell phone at this point and got a "no service" message...but still, I couldn't help but think that a pad with so much alleged security wouldn't have had a panic button or safe-room. It just seems totally implausible and therefore a plot weakness).
Nevermind that the powers obtained by taking the drug seemed Chuck-Bartowski-like. Even that I could have bought had the other plot weaknesses at least been tidied up. But they weren't.
There was room to play around with and develop the relationship between Brad Cooper and De Niro, and the ending...honestly it sucked. It was like drinking a diet coke, it just tastes wrong and doesn't satisfy at all. This movie for me fell flat because of the lame unsatisfying ending. The strong points were the action, intrigue and performances, but those elements alone can't carry a picture whose story isn't fully fleshed out. I think they forgot to finish the script. Overall, this film had a lot of promise but in the end failed to deliver. I found it disappointing because of an under-developed plot and too many questions left unanswered.