Major Disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (11 July 2008)

I don't usually go to see R-rated movies; I find the abuse of language and the usually inappropriate/unnecessary sexuality used exclusively for titillation purposes an insult to my intelligence.
But I like James McAvoy, and figured I could endure the annoying bits, given that it looked like a fascinating story line.
Of course, I am occasionally wrong. Very, very wrong.
First, what worked - James McAvoy. This guy is awesome. Subtle, realistic, strong. He was stunning.
The stunts: mostly awesome - the car stunts in particular. I actually yelled "Cool!" at one point, taken by delighted surprise at some particularly visually artistic component.
The visuals - mostly good - a few that required me to close my eyes - bullets boring through the forehead, not my cup of tea.
What was wrong??? "Hi, I'm your willing suspension of disbelief, and I'm going to be sent to the outer solar system for the duration of this film".
Puh-lease. I am willing to suspend my disbelief for some things (can't watch anything w/ the Hulk, cuz it drives me nuts his pants don't rip right off of him). But this was beyond "suspension" of disbelief - this required cryogenic freezing of willing disbelief.
Story line - it was horrendous. Idiotic. There was SO MUCH that could have been done with it - but the characters operated beyond what I thought should be realistic responses. The whole thing, in that capacity, was a cheat, imho. The characters coulda/shoulda responded a certain way to certain events - and they didn't. When they find out about the 'betrayals', they do not respond - they just keep plowing forward. When all that they believe is challenged, they just kind of shrug and say "oh, well, onward and upward. Sorry - if Wesley had just found out about all this... and suddenly had his whole life history handed to him on a platter, and then finds out these people have been lying to him... and he just goes blithely on, not questioning, not wondering, not challenging what he's seeing or being told... sorry, do not, cannot believe his character would act that way.
That burned it for me; there was the straw of "disbelief" that broke this camel's back. It ruined the movie for me.
There was SO much that COULD have been done w/ the script - but instead, they went for pure action and "wow" factor, and treated the audience like they were nothing more than idiot adolescents.
But maybe that is what they were going for.