Ultra stylish take on the revenge genre

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2004)

Tony Scott has displayed his extraordinary stylistic vision, in a genre that most directors handle with a very ordinary treatment. While the constant camera movement, fast cuts, and unorthodox editing will inevitably receive a love-it-or-hate-it response, you must at least respect Scott for having the courage to take a chance and do something different here. He has taken what is a pretty standard action-suspense yarn as far as material and storyline and turned it into an intriguing visual piece.
The plot of this film is nothing particularly new or interesting. But screenwriter Brian Helgeland, most famous for scripting LA Confidential and Mystic River, has done a nice job of creating a set of interesting and sympathetic characters and unfolding the events in such a manner that the viewer is never entirely sure of what will happen next.

Another strong point of this film is the excellent cast. Denzel Washington was a perfect choice as the taciturn and troubled Creasy. Dakota Fanning is one of the better child actors to come along in some time and proves it in providing a key performance as Pita. Mickey Rourke is perfect as the sleazy family lawyer. Christopher Walken is great as usual as Creasy's close friend. Even Marc Anthony, better known for his music career, does well in his role as Pita's father.
Despite it's strong points the film is not without flaws. It runs about 15 minutes longer than it needed to, and some of the more sentimental moments are a bit cheesy. But the overall product is a good one. Scott, as always, handles action with a deft hand but beyond that he proves that he has made many strides forward as an artist with his bold approach to this film. This combined with the strong performances of the actors involved provides an end result that is an interesting, violent, and ultimately different film. As previously stated, this is a film that people will either strongly like or dislike. I enjoyed it a great deal.