decently but generally average action flick

Rating: 5/10 (11 November 2008)

This is a decent action flick that suffers from a few flaws. First, it is completely predictable -- there is never any suspense about how it's going to end, or where the plot is going to go. The plot, in a nutshell, is this: ex-special forces type retires to lead a peaceful life, then bad guys take his kid and he reverts to his one-man-army previous life and pretty much kills everyone in his path to get his kid back....which, of course, he does.
The fact that the action is absurd is OK since this is escapist fare -- things like when bad guys shoot at the hero with machine guns they always miss, but when the hero shoots back with one shot at a time he manages to kill everyone. This I can stomach. But the already thin pretense for why the hero starts killing everyone in the first place is REALLY absurd. What is it? -SPOILER ALERT- Bad East European immigrants running a sex trade decide the best place to get new flesh is by capturing rich tourists in Paris of all places. Apparently, routinely kidnapping kids of rich and connected people & turning them into doped-up whores is the path of least resistance.
A lot of people compare this movie to the Bourne series in terms of style. I suppose there's some overlap. But, really, the Bourne movies are far more entertaining and have a more clever plot. This movie is just entertaining nonsense.