Lost me from 'hello'

Rating: 4/10 (9 September 2008)

Not much to see here. It opens with Cruise strapped to a chair for info, about to watch his generic wife be shot dead, and reacting like he's Joel trying to bargain over the phone with Guido the killer pimp in Risky Business. It's like, why would I want to suspend my disbelief over Cruise's shaky acting so I can believe some poor woman is about to get offed?
15 mins in I was ready to switch off. I don't believe in the Tom Cruise persona any more, it worked for the 1980s and 90s but those days are long gone and he's doing the same thing, it rings a bit hollow. He doesn't seem to have a real relationship much with anyone in this, save the Ving Rhames guy from before. They're all just actors brought in.
It picks up a bit with two good set pieces in succession including a bridge out Florida scene , but it's all so horribly generic. They try to make it like "24" but it doesn't quite work, it reminded me of that ho hum Sean Connery film Entrapment where they go off to foreign climes to try some heist you don't honestly believe in though it looks quite nice.
I'd like to see Cruise expand his range, play a neurotic husband being cheated on, or a pompous professorial nervy type. He just can't do that earnest, young buck schtick any more and still be interesting.