good film, stylishly made, well acted, but weak in plot and characterisation

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2006)

This is a good film, but flawed. I think Denzel Washington is a great actor, and there are fine supporting performances here, notably Christopher Walken in the kind of understated performance he has rarely been given a chance at in recent years. It's good too that the film allowed time to build the relationship between Washington's and Fanning's characters - usually these revenge flicks spend only a few minutes on this, here it's about one third of the movie.
Having said all that good stuff, it isn't an excellent film because:
* it is self-indulgently long
* the plot is formulaic and the twists rather easy to spot.
* There is some unconvincing mawkishness, especially around the girl's teddy bear.
* shots of Denzel looking moody don't really give him the depth of character that I think the director was trying to convey. With a weaker actor this could have been terrible, as it is he just about gets away with it.
In summary it's stylishly made, and very well acted, but weak in plot and particularly in characterisation.