When it's over, this assassination type thriller failed to thrill. A special Ops agent, Danny (Jason Statham) is forced out of retirement by a middle eastern oil tycoon who wishes to avenge the death of his three sons. The deal is three assassinations in exchange for Danny's good friend, Hunter's (Robert DeNiro) life. The only person standing in Danny's way is Spike (Clive Owen), a renegade soldier working for a secret British military organization. With DeNiro, Statham, and Owen headlining the cast list, you'd think "oohs and aahhhs" about the acting and story, but no such luck. Even with the twists and turns in the story, the script's still weak with characters that are only semi-developed. Statham does what he does best - action, driving, and kicking butt. DeNiro is DeNiro - the acting just comes naturally. Owen's the only one I think that got cheated in his role. He doesn't have much dialogue and what dialogue he got wasn't all that great. His character tries to be motivated, but it all seems too forced making his character only uni-layered. I didn't care too much for any of the characters, whether they died or not. However, I knew Statham never dies in any of his films, so I knew he'd make it through, unscratched as usual. I had expected more story, more drama, and more character development, and was disappointed the film missed it's target on all three. But then again, I am a bit forgiving, since, after all, it is a "Statham" picture, so action really is the main focus of the film, and there's plenty of that. The scenes with Owen and Statham in tight hand-to-hand combat were interesting and there was enough minutes of those to get your money's worth.
My rating: 2.5 out of 5
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