Great promise but poor execution

Rating: 4/10 (11 July 2008)

I really wanted to like this movie, and in some ways it succeeded. The action is intense, the special effects shots can be brilliant (esp. following the bullets)...
BUT! This movie suffers because the dialogue is TERRIBLE at times. Laughably so. When a fantastic actor like Morgan Freeman delivers lines that are supposed to be the pinnacle of the intensity for the film, and just come across as a hackneyed cliché, then the movie just loses its weight. It could be the screenwriter, it could be the director, but there are some fantastic actors in this that act so hokey it felt like a parody. Every time the lead character did a voice-over monologue, it was weak and campy.
So, in summary: visually stunning. Rent the movie and watch it with the sound off.