not as bad as others think . . .

Rating: 8/10 (14 September 2004)

First, let me acknowledge that there are some unanswered questions. First, just what did Creasy do that caused him to feel so completely down on himself before he met Pita? That question is never answered, only vaguely hinted at, at best. OK, so he was a professional assassin. No big deal - he did what he was paid to do, and he was good at it.
So, what happened? Did he accidentally kill a bus of Catholic School girls when completing an assignment? I wish we knew.
Other than that, the movie did make a lot of sense to me. It had a believable plot, and moved in a logical way. Yes, Creasy's desire for revenge is predictable, but looking at the character, in his state of mind, it would also be his only shot at redemption. He is using this terrible gift he spent 18 years training to refine to close the books on people who make a living causing harm and pain to innocents. The only other choices he seems to have are to run away to the US, or go to Mexican prison for killing 2 "off-duty" cops that were in uniform at the scene of Pita's kidnapping.
The biggest problem I had with the whole story was the ending. In the last minute, there should have been a pan shot of the bad guys driving away, with Creasy's dead body in the back seat, going to a wide-angle view of the two cars rolling down the highway - and erupting into flame just after Creasy's watch "alarm" beeps. Mission accomplished.