Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (22 May 2003)

It was hard not to go in to this film with expectations, and to be fair perhaps that should be taken into account. But myself and the group I saw it with came out disappointed after this film. It felt long; not just the dialogue scenes between the action sequences, but often the action sequences themselves. With the exception of the freeway scene, most action sequences were boring, maybe because they were much longer than those shown in the original, maybe because often the outcome of the skirmish was not clear (ie resulting in a victor or chase). Also, most fight scenes were very martial arts based, rather than a nice balance between gun-play and hand-to-hand. And those much hyped digital doubles for the actors were no where near what they were claimed to be (by those responsible - indistinguishable from the real actors). The beginning felt like watching a video game. I know I've reviewed this very comparatively to the original, but a sequel of this sort cannot be judged without comparison. To its credit, the final 30 minutes far surpassed the 100 before it.