This is a hard to rate movie.
The actors, I liked a lot of them - and not just the Asian hotties, I'll have you know. I mean the main character is a muscleman with no charisma whatsoever, but there you got Michael Jai White, Jason "Jay" Mewes, Michael "sooo annoying" Madsen, even Danny Trejo and James Russo do some cameos. Add to this serious dudes like Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and the entire Armenian cast, who did very well, and you got some cool people there with both acting and/or physical action handled.
The story is all over the place, from a vigilante that is called The Vigilante, but doesn't seem to do anything during the movie, to the Armenian mob, terrorist nuke attacks, data hackers with weird 3D air interfaces, getting the captured wife and son back, shadow men that manipulate everything, etc. The problem is the script. It just ... sucks! Nothing is connected, no characters are developed, things go from one place to another with absolutely no emotional impact. It made the whole thing confusing and boring.
Then there is the production values. Expensive cars, weapons, some decent CGI... but the action stinks! The action scenes feel like little kids made them: no tactics, no strategy, people walking in a line without cover, ridiculous fight scenes. You feel it even stronger when Michael Jai White starts moving and you realize how pathetic everything was before that. Jax rules!
Anyway, it was a decent effort, with enough resources to make at least a good film, and with a lot more possible. Unfortunately, it isn't a decent movie: it's barely a 6.
The actors, I liked a lot of them - and not just the Asian hotties, I'll have you know. I mean the main character is a muscleman with no charisma whatsoever, but there you got Michael Jai White, Jason "Jay" Mewes, Michael "sooo annoying" Madsen, even Danny Trejo and James Russo do some cameos. Add to this serious dudes like Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and the entire Armenian cast, who did very well, and you got some cool people there with both acting and/or physical action handled.
The story is all over the place, from a vigilante that is called The Vigilante, but doesn't seem to do anything during the movie, to the Armenian mob, terrorist nuke attacks, data hackers with weird 3D air interfaces, getting the captured wife and son back, shadow men that manipulate everything, etc. The problem is the script. It just ... sucks! Nothing is connected, no characters are developed, things go from one place to another with absolutely no emotional impact. It made the whole thing confusing and boring.
Then there is the production values. Expensive cars, weapons, some decent CGI... but the action stinks! The action scenes feel like little kids made them: no tactics, no strategy, people walking in a line without cover, ridiculous fight scenes. You feel it even stronger when Michael Jai White starts moving and you realize how pathetic everything was before that. Jax rules!
Anyway, it was a decent effort, with enough resources to make at least a good film, and with a lot more possible. Unfortunately, it isn't a decent movie: it's barely a 6.