So, from the opening credits it seems to have been (co)written and produced and stars Adrian Brody, who is not great at any of those jobs.
For some reason at some point in his career Brody thought he had the chops to be an action star, but he doesn't know how to pull it off, and is never convincing as one.
For example him being a mercenary badass in Predators was the worst thing in that movie, including Topher Grace, and he has not improved in that field in the last... I want to say 15 years? He continues that streak in this movie. Maybe he should stick to dramas.
Besides Brady's being less than convincing as having a history of violence and being total badass, the writing is so poor that the opening narration left me bored and aware that this was going to be dull, badly written, and the characterisation would be weak.
This continued through the whole first act, which is meant to build tension, until you find out that his terrible loss is that he was a junkie and probably some kind of criminal (though that is in no way shown and is only vaguely hinted at if you read between the lines) and left his fix kit in a drawer, and like a 6ish year old girl digs it out, loads a dose, cooks it, loads a syringe, mainlines it and overdoses. That is the backstory and it is stupid, dull, and the in no way helped the plot.
If she had been killed/hit and run and his nightmares and memories of violence was a revenge thing, that would have actually made sense and continued some kind of relevance and character development, both of which this film entirely lacks.
TLDR: It's a bog-standard one-man against a drug kingpin and protecting a girl in the process type deal, but it it the dullest one I've seen, and we've all seen a million of them. There are way better ones, watch one of them instead.
For some reason at some point in his career Brody thought he had the chops to be an action star, but he doesn't know how to pull it off, and is never convincing as one.
For example him being a mercenary badass in Predators was the worst thing in that movie, including Topher Grace, and he has not improved in that field in the last... I want to say 15 years? He continues that streak in this movie. Maybe he should stick to dramas.
Besides Brady's being less than convincing as having a history of violence and being total badass, the writing is so poor that the opening narration left me bored and aware that this was going to be dull, badly written, and the characterisation would be weak.
This continued through the whole first act, which is meant to build tension, until you find out that his terrible loss is that he was a junkie and probably some kind of criminal (though that is in no way shown and is only vaguely hinted at if you read between the lines) and left his fix kit in a drawer, and like a 6ish year old girl digs it out, loads a dose, cooks it, loads a syringe, mainlines it and overdoses. That is the backstory and it is stupid, dull, and the in no way helped the plot.
If she had been killed/hit and run and his nightmares and memories of violence was a revenge thing, that would have actually made sense and continued some kind of relevance and character development, both of which this film entirely lacks.
TLDR: It's a bog-standard one-man against a drug kingpin and protecting a girl in the process type deal, but it it the dullest one I've seen, and we've all seen a million of them. There are way better ones, watch one of them instead.