a fantastic film that is surprisingly unique

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2015)

I am a big fan of Denzel Washington so I decided to watch this film and I must say it is fantastic. The premise of this film sees denzels character hired to protect a family particularly a young girl. So when she is kidnapped he promises to kill every person responsible and save the girl from death. Now Denzel is great in the role and he combines the mix of drama and action really well and his performance in this film is really really good with special emotional layers to his character. The supporting cast is also really good with this probably being my favourite Dakota fanning performance ever. Her and denzels chemistry is fantastic and really carries the first half of this film which makes the second half more impactfull. The mum and dad of fanning were both really good also with the mum being an emotion filled character and the dad a layered character. Even though he isn't in the film that much Christopher walken was great in the film and showed his real acting chops and his chemistry with Washington was good. The story was multi layered and even though the premise is similar to other films this one has its unique angle. The story isn't just an action story but it sees a man who goes through a journey of redemption and gets attached to this kid and the end of the film is tear worthy. The script is great too with a really good mix of comedy and drama dialogue that makes these characters feel interesting and multi layered. The style is a bit of a mixed bag I did think some of the stylistic choices worked for the Mexico style. However, not all of it works and sometimes it takes the grit off the film and that is a big disappointment for the film in my opinion. Overall I love this film it is fantastic and every Denzel Washington fan should see it.