The Courier actually read really well. I had it at the top of my weekly movie viewing and I happen to really, really, like Jeffrey Dean Morgan although the poor guy has such a hard time finding his way in Hollywood and this won't help him one little bit. This is simply trash. It is horrendously written, directed, edited, acted...you name it, they destroyed it. They try to slap together a few ingredients from other like minded action films and things that someone "thought" would look cool on screen but its cheesy, incredibly cheesy, with terrible dialogue and a story that makes absolutely no sense. Who is chasing who? Why are they chasing him? Who hired who? And most importantly who cares? I knew what I was in for right from the first scene (which seems to have very very little bearing on the actual story) but is blatantly done on a green screen so much so that it looks hokey. And then the very first fist fight is so poorly edited that its like watching two high school kids do prat falls and "pretend" fight. There are some genuinely violent scenes, the shoot outs are actually not bad, and some of the cinematography and locations settings are actually pretty good but it doesn't even come close to saving this absolute garbage-fest.
I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan! Why can't this guy get a break! I will say that I think he really does try his utter best with what he is given which is virtually nothing. He plays a brooding, angry, violent courier of sorts who has been essentially set up although the reasons are extremely convoluted and confusing. Without him I never ever would have bothered to sit through more than fifteen minutes of this. Why Hollywood keeps casting Til Schweiger I will never understand. His style of acting is better suited for porn films because the guy is just atrocious. He tries to be serious but everything he does comes across as completely campy. He is as expected in this, awful, as an FBI agent who seems almost cartoonish in his performance. But cartoonish is par for the course in this film as you have a Dr. Claw type villain named "Evil Sivel," (seriously? That's an anagram from Lives just to ruin the surprise for everyone...believe me I'm doing you a favour,) whom they show only in shadows and from behind to mask his identity when its obvious from voice, profile and the cover of the movie that its Mickey Rourke. He's awful and pointless because they under use him and make him into a cartoon character. Miguel Ferrer and Lili Taylor are straight from Rocky and Bullwinkle playing bumbling sidekicks that are supposed to be terrifying. I like both these actors and its a real shame they are wasted on this. And finally Josie Ho is atrocious as some sort of sidekick romantic interest who is literally painful to watch act. She is awful and the chemistry between her and Morgan is completely nil and awkward.
As if the film couldn't get any worse they tack on this ridiculous non-sensical twist ending that is a complete laugh and is really the perfect lid on this garbage pail movie. As the story goes, the cast jumped on board simply because Hany Abu-Assad was directing and I'd love to know...why?! I've never heard of this guy before or any of his projects and if this is the quality of his film making then God help them all. There is absolutely NO WAY the budget on this film was 15 million dollars. There is nothing that would indicate any significant budget was put into anything and furthermore anyone that would give this script 15 million dollars needs their head examined. There is nothing worthy of your attention in this film. I sat through it out of respect for Jeffrey Dean Morgan but I won't ever lay eyes on this again. It was an undeniable atrocity. Avoid this at all costs!! 2/10
I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan! Why can't this guy get a break! I will say that I think he really does try his utter best with what he is given which is virtually nothing. He plays a brooding, angry, violent courier of sorts who has been essentially set up although the reasons are extremely convoluted and confusing. Without him I never ever would have bothered to sit through more than fifteen minutes of this. Why Hollywood keeps casting Til Schweiger I will never understand. His style of acting is better suited for porn films because the guy is just atrocious. He tries to be serious but everything he does comes across as completely campy. He is as expected in this, awful, as an FBI agent who seems almost cartoonish in his performance. But cartoonish is par for the course in this film as you have a Dr. Claw type villain named "Evil Sivel," (seriously? That's an anagram from Lives just to ruin the surprise for everyone...believe me I'm doing you a favour,) whom they show only in shadows and from behind to mask his identity when its obvious from voice, profile and the cover of the movie that its Mickey Rourke. He's awful and pointless because they under use him and make him into a cartoon character. Miguel Ferrer and Lili Taylor are straight from Rocky and Bullwinkle playing bumbling sidekicks that are supposed to be terrifying. I like both these actors and its a real shame they are wasted on this. And finally Josie Ho is atrocious as some sort of sidekick romantic interest who is literally painful to watch act. She is awful and the chemistry between her and Morgan is completely nil and awkward.
As if the film couldn't get any worse they tack on this ridiculous non-sensical twist ending that is a complete laugh and is really the perfect lid on this garbage pail movie. As the story goes, the cast jumped on board simply because Hany Abu-Assad was directing and I'd love to know...why?! I've never heard of this guy before or any of his projects and if this is the quality of his film making then God help them all. There is absolutely NO WAY the budget on this film was 15 million dollars. There is nothing that would indicate any significant budget was put into anything and furthermore anyone that would give this script 15 million dollars needs their head examined. There is nothing worthy of your attention in this film. I sat through it out of respect for Jeffrey Dean Morgan but I won't ever lay eyes on this again. It was an undeniable atrocity. Avoid this at all costs!! 2/10