Overlong and superficial

Rating: 4/10 (18 January 2007)

I really struggled to reach the end of this film. It seemed to go on forever, without any real narrative verve or purpose.
None of the main characters were properly developed and consequently I could not have cared less about any of them. There was no serious exploration of the morality or immorality of what they were doing or why. Just a bit of callously expressed indifference from the South African guy played by Daniel Craig, and a lot of pained expressions from the Eric Bana character.
As for the plot, it was obscure and incoherent. Often I wasn't even sure what country the action was occurring in, as the assassination crew moved from one anonymous victim about whom we knew nothing, to another. Every now and then a character would announce how many hundreds of thousands of dollars a particular hit had cost, but what reaction the film-makers wanted the audience to have to these figures I have no idea. Certainly the assassins never seemed to be struggling for cash.
There were a few impressive set pieces and the seventies period detail was nicely done. Yet when the film finally ended I was more relieved than anything else. It simply had no resonance for me whatsoever.