A truly lame excuse for an action movie

Rating: 4/10 (1 February 2009)

The problem with this movie is singular: an action movie needs to have good action sequences, but the action sequences in this movie are dreadful. It is difficult to say whether the directing is to blame, because whatever may have been in the raw footage was chopped up like Cole slaw by the time it reached the theater. If you have ever seen a bad action film where the action is filmed too closely such that all you see are arms and legs flying across the screen, and where the camera cuts are fast and quick to simulate real action, then you know what this movie is in essence. Throughout the movie, almost from start to finish, the character played by Liam Neeson is involved in physical, hand-to-hand combat. But you don't every actually see any of it. I would estimate that during these sequences, the average amount of time that any one camera angle remains in place is less than a full second. Chop, chop, chop. These fools evidently believe that they can have the actors do everything in slow motion and then during the editing, chop it all up in a way that makes it seem like real action. Well, it just doesn't work. This very trick, in fact, is the signature of a cheaply made action movie. If a movie such as this does not have good action, what else does it have? In this case, not much. Neeson never really shows much emotion, and that makes it difficult to identify with him as he tries to rescue his daughter. There isn't really anything that convinces us that he really cares about her, other than the fact that he goes to save her. Even when she is first taken, he does not show anger. This was probably intentional, but it was a bad decision, because he comes across like a stick of wood. Come to think of it, I don't recall Neeson every showing emotion in any movie, and on that basis, I would have to say that he is not a good actor. They could make a mask of him and let another actor wear it, and then dub in his voice later, and the effect would be much the same. As for the story, the movie that I was most reminded of as I sat there and waited for it to end, was a Charles Bronson movie made in the late eighties, titled, "Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects".
Bottom line, an action movie needs to have good action sequences, and the action sequences in this movie are very badly done. You cannot get good action sequences by filming actors while they perform choreography in slow motion and then chop up the film later to hide the fact that they were in fact performing choreography in slow motion. It just doesn't work. This is a cheaply made, inferior action movie.