Spartan meets French action movie

Rating: 9/10 (26 May 2009)

This movie surprised me quite a bit. The ads made it look more like a twisted thriller, while comments I heard made it sound like a cerebral movie. It turns out it's a rather an above-average action movie with a storyline that borrows heavily from the excellent movie Spartan.
The first 27 minutes or so are rather dull and annoying. Neeson plays a meticulous retired agent who spends his time trying to connect with his daughter who lives with his ex-wife's new rich husband. And his daughter is one annoying girl. His buddies try to hire him to do high-paying security jobs. He eventually agrees. At that point the action starts, when the singer he's guarding is suddenly attacked by a guy with a knife.
His daughter then decides to go to Paris with her even-more-annoying bimbo friend. In Paris they are kidnapped, forcing Neeson to travel to Paris and take matters into his own hands. He's got contacts there with law enforcement, but they are not willing to help. He finds, rather easily, everyone involved with her kidnapping and the motive behind it all: to sell her as a sex slave.
The action is pretty good and quite brutal for a PG-13 movie. But it's the French sort of brutality, think The Transporter, so it's somewhat comical but here at least people are killed- a lot of people. It's not as campy as most French action thrillers of late, in that regard it maintains some of the soberness of Spartan. But there is still an element of fun here. French export action pics certainly are not known for realism and this one is no exception. All that Neeson needs is a word and he can figure out where, when, and who. He can kill anything with a single shot, while his enemies armed with machine guns can't even hit his car.
Overall this is a very entertaining and exciting action pic. I'm not convinced by the casting. Neeson can act the part but he sounds more like a grandfather than a father and sure looks fragile. The insufferable Leland Orser plays one of Neeson's action pals. While poor Xander Berkeley gets a thankless role as the rich dad. Spartan is still the superior movie, but this one makes for a fun and lighter companion.