I went into see this movie with absolutely no background knowledge of what it was about or understanding that it was based on a series of stories. Had I been aware of this I might have saved myself the money and the time.
It's not that it wasn't acted well by Neeson or shot/directed well. It was other things that bothered me:
At the end I just went "meh" and walked out without any sense of satisfaction. So as I said - pointless.
It's not that it wasn't acted well by Neeson or shot/directed well. It was other things that bothered me:
- the signposts to Y2K - of what relevance was that to the story? In fact what was the purpose of setting it in the late 90s? To show us how life used to be before the internet and mobile phones took over our lives?If so, then fine make that point, but give it some relevance to the story.
- the 12 steps - of what relevance was that to the story? In fact (i) it was shot in such a way that the scenes distracted me and I can't remember any of them and (ii) I don't recall our hero carrying out any of them himself.
- the clichéd drunk cop goes clean to redeem himself. TBH we never see him struggle with temptation for a drink, so maybe it wasn't enough of a sacrifice to give any redemption?
- the clichéd smart-alec kid from the streets - he's street tough, but vulnerable, he's techno smart, but can't carry out a simple instruction. In fact why would any script writer worth their salt allow the line "stay in the car"?
- the clichéd climactic fight scene - why was the killer waiting for our hero to return? He'd already heard him say he was going. So why set up the elaborate body positioning in the hope he would return?
At the end I just went "meh" and walked out without any sense of satisfaction. So as I said - pointless.