A Good Try But It Implodes On Itself

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2019)

27 August 2010. This above decent action thriller begins with substance but eventually collapses on itself into chaos. This is no Jason Bourne from Bourne Identity multiplied by three or four. The beginning scene was too dark and confusing to really have the sharp, dazzling impact it could have had, the car chase also was confusing, the near escape of the antagonist twice as a bit too staged, especially the second time as things start blowing up. The big explosion scene was also mis-managed as instead of the having many more police force inside the building they were outside which in same ways resulted in a really messy climactic explosive battle with so many scenes that were just edited bits of bullets flying, heads exploding...Another let down was Jet Li's big martial arts scene which seemed only to result in the smaller being battered and that only in the end bullets count more.
Mickey Rouke, continued to play his new more rough and tumbled role from his Oscar nominated performance of The Wrestler (2008) though it would have been nice to see a different side of his persona and extend his acting range. Nevertheless, there was a decent effort in incorporate an emotional connection into this movie, including Charisma Carpenter's (from Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer) girlfriend role which still didn't have enough screen time and an attempt at a more balanced presentation of bad guys. Unfortunately, the end result was more blood and guts, grinding meat of mercenary fame instead of the more stylish martial arts and mental and physical prowess.