A sad attempt at an action movie in the Post-Matrix era

Rating: 2/10 (25 May 2004)

I borrowed the DVD of this from a friend (whom I no longer speak to) (only joking!).
Among other things this movie pornographises violence (as I understand the term) for the sake of cheap thrills by showing that the human body can take so much more punishment than it actually can. There is no way that 2 people can smash into each other at 120mph, then fall 40 feet onto a beach and then stand up and then stand up and have a fight with each other for 10 minutes (unintentional laughter abounds). It sends out the wrong message to kids who might be unfortunate enough to be watching that this can happen. Hopefully, kids are more sophisticated than I think.
There is no dramatic tension in this movie at all and the plot, what plot? It self-destructed 5 seconds before the movie began. The characters have the depth of cardboard, which is an insult to cardboard and many good actors, including Cruise, are wasted - Anthony Hopkins appears to be wearing a grin during his scenes that seems to just be saying "I'm getting $1 million for saying 12 lines and being in the film 3 minutes. I love this job!".
Did I mention the unintentional laughter? This movie has it by the shed load. I kept expecting Charlie Sheen to appear during the endlessly absurd 'action' scenes and Tom Cruise tries desperately to be cool and stylish but comes off looking like a prat. I defy anyone to watch the scene where Tom walks past the burning doorway while the dove flies past and Dougray Scott says "Run that b*stard down!" without laughing. I sure as hell did.
I liked Face/Off and I generally like most of Mr Woo's other movies but this one should just be flushed down the pan - it is just a 2-hour commercial for crassness and stupidity.
I gave it a 2, I would have given it a 1 except for the added entertainment value of the unintentional laughter. You deserve much better than this so don't waste your time or money. No wonder that now, only 4 years after its release it is occupying the bottom of DVD bargain bins. Recommended only for people who thought that 'Armageddon' was a good movie.