Formula, but gets it right

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2011)

First, we can all identify a formula movie. Kids' movies, Lifetime Network movies, Man Cave DVD shelf movies. This is one of the latter. It's not long on intellect or plot development. But what it does, it does well. One subtle difference beyond the bad guys not being able to shoot straight and the bad guys being just "waste'em and don't worry about bullets" bad, is Neeson's character isn't necessarily good to a tee. He's not horrible, but there are times when he pushes into moral ambivalence territory.
It had a nice pace and got to its points and got them out of the way, without trying to stretch it into a movie trying to be more important than it is. The acting is fair to good, but it is so fast paced that there isn't a whole lot of time to care. Other than Neeson, no other character has more than twenty lines of dialog.
Don't know if it's a movie that needs to be on that Man Cave shelf, but is worth more than one viewing. I'm on the edge whether I'll get a copy or not. But I will watch it again. I'll have to wait and see if it is niggling me to watch again and again and deserves a spot next to Die Hard.
Spoilers - There are a few groaners which is why I'm on the edge like Neeson is a super bad ass for 3/4ths of the movie and somehow lets himself get conked on the head and taken himself. Also, when he is at the baddies' mercy, a couple of loose bolts help out nicely - we're a safety inspection away from having a short and unsatisfying conclusion. But one certainly can nitpick Die Hard as well. A decent way to spend an hour and a half.