No compromises

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2009)

I have to start with a review of the movie, in a magazine (Empire), which gave this movie a real rating. The reason for that, was the fact, that the movie shows Europe in a dark light and if you would actually take the whole thing seriously, you could accuse the movie of being "xenophobic" (or should that read "euro-phobic"?) ... but that's missing the point.
The movie is there to entertain and not to warn Americans, to stay in America and take their vacations there (which the review also stated). Entertain might seem a bit of a stretch if you have seen the movie, but I do stand by that. After a slow start, the pace picks up and there is almost no stop until the end.
The movie is pretty intense, but it is completely justifiable. And it does stay true to itself, which makes it a lot better than recent efforts (Brave One, Death Sentence) in that same or similar fashion.