An overdose of visual style from Scott and solid turns from the stars don't manage to cover the flaws in this overlong and run-of-the-mill thriller

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 2004)

Heavily drinking and suffering from guilt over his past, former Marine Creasy arrives in Mexico City to take a job of low rent bodyguard from his friend Rayburn. Creasy's assignment is to look after the daughter of a troubled young businessman, ensuring that Pita is protected from kidnapping attempts. Initially cold to her, Creasy warms to his young ward and in turn she helps him rediscover his passion for life. However when he is badly wounded and Pita kidnapped, Creasy reacts with violent retribution, aiming to bring down the gang of kidnappers from the littlest fish to the top man.
The trailer for this film was enough to make sure that I was interested  the intensive visual style and the tough talk and walk were enough to cover the nagging thoughts that I had basically been told the whole (very simple) plot in about 3 minutes. The strengths of the trailer cover the weaknesses of the film when they are presented in a very short time but the problem with the actual film is that it takes the same approach as the trailer did  ie entice the audience with a different and energetic visual style, along with tough talking and tough walking and hope that they will be so won over by these that they won't notice that the film is actually fairly average in almost every other aspect. The biggest failing is in the plot and the substance of the film as it never really does anything that is unpredictable and it is all rather workmanlike at times. The plot is a standard revenge film but it is rather full of itself and runs far too long to really suit the material  this stuff should be shorter and more brutal instead of being overly long. The running time is a problem because it does feel too long quite a few times but it wouldn't have been if the material had been there to carry it.
Sadly the script doesn't do anything new. We expect Creasy and Pita to warm to one another and indeed they do  not with any touching or moving moments but with obvious moves. The ending is quite touching but by then it is too little too late and the film mainly just threads the line of least resistance with an obvious script. This trend continues in the actual plot, which takes too long to get to the action and then takes too long in delivering it. It is enjoyable to see such brutal violence in such a mainstream movie but Creasy's sudden transformation from flawed human being into near indestructible killing machine is a bit too much to swallow and misses the chance to be a more interesting revenge movie than it ultimately was.
Of course the film does everything it can to try and distract us from the fact that this is an ordinary story by delivering it with all the energy of a child with a load of sugar in it. Scott blurs the shot, jerks it around, uses slow-mo, fades colours, everything  I didn't see it but I did get the feeling that somewhere in there was a kitchen sink. This is not a major problem because it was nice to watch and had plenty of nice touches (the subtitles appearing in rhythm or lingering on the screen) but without substance to back it up then it does feel pretty empty at times. Likewise the cast all try very hard but none of them really have much to work with. Washington rises to the harder role and seems to be looking for darker stuff since his Oscar for Training Day. He is always watchable but he never really makes the role his own or gets to the core of his character (only having Lethal Weapon-style drunken brooding to convey hidden depths). Fanning had the potential to be an annoyingly cute kid but she is better than that and she has a nice chemistry with Washington that makes us feel for her character rather than pray for her kidnapping (which I have done with other child performances). Support is not as good, mainly because they have as little to work with as the lead two but less time to make a mark. Walken is a nice addition but his presence is only a side-issue, which, funnily enough, is what Rourke seems to aspire to in a role that gives him so little screen time that you assume he is a larger character in the story than he appears to be (I don't consider a statement this obvious to be a spoiler!). The rest are OK with good turns from Giannini and Ticotin in thankless characters and a solid job from Mitchell.
Overall this is a very average film that tries as hard as it can to hide this fact for as long as it can. Visually it is impressive but the lack of heart or substance rather detracts from Scott's work  making it come across as noise without content. The cast also try hard and a couple manage to do well even if they have little but the basics to work with. Sadly the running time exposes how empty the film is and soon even the intense visual style of the film became a bit tiresome. Not an awful film by any means but simply an average affair that tries to cover it by overdoing it in other areas where really it would have been better to concentrate on improving the weak areas instead of trying to cover them.