Clichéd but not without interest

Rating: 4/10 (23 July 2008)

This is a fairly polished production; however, the script takes some very easy short-cuts or falls back on some very clichéd characters. The parts of Johnson (Glover), and all of the other bad guys are comically, characteristically "bad" guys. Glover's role, in particular, ends up the moving towards a portrayal where he is tossing off purely two dimensional lines so bad they are laughable. Wahlberg's portrayal is fine, if limited to very few notes. As some other reviewers notes, Mara is essentially limited to some expressions of fear and anxiety. Pena is well used, although a fair portion of his role towards the end of the plot ends up in deleted scenes.
The lack of credibility in some key points (A. that Wahlberg's role wouldn't ask for any kind of basic identification and would feel that it would be necessary for one man to do the wind and location scouting readings, versus telling any number of presumably other competent Army, FBI or other agency snipers to assist -- and, of course, confirm; B. that every other FBI officer, experienced officers, all, would question Pena's recollection. memory and interpretations -- with the KEY exception of one secretary; C. that a large, amorphous well- staffed and well-funded "agency" could exist in the U.S. government overseen by only one lone senator from the great state of Montana) probably didn't ruin the movie for anyone who wanted a action piece, but it hurts the movie as both a suspense or thriller feature. The comparison by one television to the Bourne movie is totally off the mark. This movie lacks the intelligence of those plots, the acting, writing and stunt work, as well as the believability quotient of that series.