Above average for its genre

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2007)

Nicholas Cage is not my idea of a great actor, and I am not a fan of this type of movie -- heck, I don't even know what it would be called, action thriller? That said, I found this movie entertaining. Perhaps that is because I don't watch this type of movie, so I am not going to see it as a collection of clichés, as one commentator remarked.
The key, of course, was Sean Connery. There is wonderful irony in learning he is one of the great British secret agents, yet has been a prisoner for decades. It is almost like learning Superman is still alive, but squirreled away in Guantanamo.
More precisely, Connery's character is reminiscent of Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner. If only the series could be revived with Connery in the lead! At any rate, I am a great fan of Connery, as an actor. Cage, he needs to be in the right role, and this fits him fine. The two together have an interesting chemistry.
So it is watchable, even if you don't watch this type of movie.