Very good movie - plot, acting, special effects, action

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2009)

Best way to view this: as an action comic book where you'll need to go with things and accept the bending of physical laws.
Pros: Great special effects, no compromises on the characters or the violence (e.g. didn't get hung up on whether the violence would be perceived as gratuitous), excellent premise/plot (but ... see the cons), and convincing acting. Despite the cons, I loved the movie-- Cons: Needed more time presenting the internal strife and transformation of the main character (in all areas - assassinations, move to the different life, etc.) -- i.e. take notes from Spiderman 2. The breakdown & pre-breakthrough training sessions along with the ultimate 'breakthrough' didn't give me the needed sense of intense struggle as the former conditioning broke away. And ... I groaned at the one-dimensional, too-comic-booky-like character in the limo who was assassinated -- his reaction was silly.