"Beware of the Hype."

Rating: 3/10 (16 November 2006)

"Beware of the hype, for it shall mislead." "There is a direct relationship between the level of hype and a movie's mediocrity." These are axioms that are as immutable as Isaac Newton's Law of Gravity or the speed of light and the truth of which are again evident in this dismal movie. Judging by the hype that preceded this movie, I am neither surprised nor disappointed by this movie's utter lack of quality. This movie is so bad that the scenes of graphic and gratuitous violence provoked unintended laughter. (By the way, isn't there enough violence already in the world that Hollywood has to dramatize it? Can't Hollywood ease off on the violence? Why show people being gunned down? How does that make the world a better place? How does that add to the artistic quality of a movie?) Also, the story itself and characters involved are so utterly insipid and so lacking in anything that even remotely resembles originality that they cannot be taken seriously. A police officer on the take? A criminal who is also an informant? The main characters in this movie are gangsters and corrupt police officers. It's understood that they are violent. So why show the violence? Remember the hype and judge accordingly.