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This is your typical by-the-numbers stab 'em/shoot 'em/break their necks/drown 'em movie, as produced by Sylvester Stallone. In other words it's exactly like all the other movies of the same ilk that he's produced.
The story, as if it matters, involves a girl who gets kidnapped from a bar. The girl's dad turns to his employee, Jason Statham, and begs him to "bring her back." Jason, who has a side gig as a single dad with an adorable grade-school daughter, can't help but agree to help out, what with the father instincts kicking in and all.
From there he drifts from one "set-up" to the next. Either it's people sitting around talking and threatening each other, or a huge fight scene, sometimes involving water or cars, but usually just guns, knives, and a surprising amount of sharp ledges in the nearby architecture made out of bricks, marble, stone, or whatever, which come in handy for breaking people's necks on. A bunch of cops occasionally descend on some of the mayhem, but they usually get their heads blown off by the bad guys before they can so much as call for backup.
At the end, Jason finds the girl in a seedy barn-like "hideaway" where all the bad guys have gathered to drink, exchange piles of money, or do whatever bad guys do at their lairs. She isn't the kind of whimpering, crying damsel in distress you'd think she'd be, but is instead the type of badass fighter woman required in all movies these days, who manages to kill somebody herself, while handcuffed and hanging from a pipe, using only her thunder-thighs, which will probably excite some of the more romance-starved males in the audience, or scare them to death, one or the other.
As you can tell, I didn't like this movie much, but I did enjoy the sound mix. Lots of good low end on explosions and in the always-present music.
So I'll give it two out of five stars. It's really a one-star story because it's so incomprehensible and half of the characters seem unneccesary, but the sound and special efx raised it a notch. Action fans will be enthralled. People who enjoy a good story with their action -- you know, like in "Die Hard" -- will probably be let down.
The story, as if it matters, involves a girl who gets kidnapped from a bar. The girl's dad turns to his employee, Jason Statham, and begs him to "bring her back." Jason, who has a side gig as a single dad with an adorable grade-school daughter, can't help but agree to help out, what with the father instincts kicking in and all.
From there he drifts from one "set-up" to the next. Either it's people sitting around talking and threatening each other, or a huge fight scene, sometimes involving water or cars, but usually just guns, knives, and a surprising amount of sharp ledges in the nearby architecture made out of bricks, marble, stone, or whatever, which come in handy for breaking people's necks on. A bunch of cops occasionally descend on some of the mayhem, but they usually get their heads blown off by the bad guys before they can so much as call for backup.
At the end, Jason finds the girl in a seedy barn-like "hideaway" where all the bad guys have gathered to drink, exchange piles of money, or do whatever bad guys do at their lairs. She isn't the kind of whimpering, crying damsel in distress you'd think she'd be, but is instead the type of badass fighter woman required in all movies these days, who manages to kill somebody herself, while handcuffed and hanging from a pipe, using only her thunder-thighs, which will probably excite some of the more romance-starved males in the audience, or scare them to death, one or the other.
As you can tell, I didn't like this movie much, but I did enjoy the sound mix. Lots of good low end on explosions and in the always-present music.
So I'll give it two out of five stars. It's really a one-star story because it's so incomprehensible and half of the characters seem unneccesary, but the sound and special efx raised it a notch. Action fans will be enthralled. People who enjoy a good story with their action -- you know, like in "Die Hard" -- will probably be let down.