Surprisingly Good

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2008)

I was surprised at how good this movie is.
The action is fine, the plot is a bit simplistic (as action movie plots tend to be) but very suspenseful and satisfying.
There isn't an inch of fat anywhere on this story. After a short, moderately-paced setup, this movie accelerates until it goes at one million miles an hour, and it never lets up until the very end.
The action is Jason-Bourne style but so well done that it's almost better than in the Bourne movies. The bad guys are so bad you want them decimated, electrocuted, blown away and punched into submission so BAD - and you won't be disappointed.
And yet, somehow, the story never loses it's emotional impact. It never veers into the ridiculous, the boring or the overly dramatic. The dialogue is awesome in its simplicity and effectiveness.
Liam Neeson is very impressive - who knew he was an action hero? Steven Segal can only dream of a performance like this.
Luc Besson wrote this story and - miraculously - it seems there were no studio executives to mess with it.
Totally awesome.