Hero Wanted (2008) User Reviews

Going to Hell to Find Redemption

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 14 June 2008]

While grieving the death of his beloved wife, who drowned in a car accident, the garbage man Liam Case (Cuba Gooding Jr.) becomes a hero when he saves a young girl from a wrecked car on fire. Years later, Liam has a secret crush on the bank teller Kayla (Christa Campbell) and while in the bank with her, there is a heist and one of the five thieves shoots Kayla and Liam. When he recovers, Kayla is in a deep coma and he chases the killer; but the gang has a dark secret about Liam and goes after him seeking revenge.

My first impression of "Hero Wanted" was not good, with the confused non-linear story and a disappointing conclusion. However, joining the pieces of the puzzle that compose the story later, I found it a reasonable film, at least the intentions of the writers are good. But the tag-line says that "the road to hell is paved of good intentions" and the screenplay does not work well. Cuba Gooding Jr. is and performs a charismatic character that finds redemption only after going to hell. Apparently his friend Cosmo Jackson died, but this character is simply forgotten in the end of the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Herói" ("Hero")

better than the review i read,not as good as hoped

[FFAxDAVID · 6/10 · 24 April 2008]

There are no great surprises in this,but i did overall enjoy it non-the-less.

Before i watched it i had read a review on here referring to it as nothing more than a B movie,and that cuba should never have agreed to do it,but it is better than that-not a great deal admittedly,but definitely better. The story is told in flashbacks a lot,which is over used these days,but it does have the effect its supposed to without being confusing.(however because its so linear in its style it doesn't leave any great surprises. Its a watchable film with OK acting and OK script,which is a lot better than a lot of the stuff around these days so i was happy with it and gave a reasonable 6 out of 10,missing 7 only because it was reasonable rather than actually good.

Very Good

[bob-rutzel-1 · 7/10 · 31 August 2008]

Liam Case (Gooding) is shot and left for dead during a botched bank robbery. When healed, he decides to go after the robbers.

This is a very violent film so be prepared. For the longest time you have no real idea what is going on. It's like watching something in a time continuum kind of thing as in CRASH and VANTAGE POINT, and it doesn't straighten out until the last 20-minutes or so. But, as back and forth and as violent as this is, there is entertainment value in here. And, once you see the twist, all becomes very clear.

Cuba Gooding is one of those actors who could be nominated for an Oscar for any movie he is in. The movie may be bad, but he is always good and that cannot be said of too many. Ray Liotta is always fun to watch and one day someone will realize he, too, is an Oscar caliber actor. I was surprised to see Jean Smart in this. I almost didn't recognize her, but once I heard that voice, I knew it was her. She is terrific. And, Sammi Hanratty will be at the finish line along with Dakota Fanning and Abagail Breslin. The rest of the cast, the bad guys for the most part, were all terrific.

When you see Ben Cross you ask yourself, why don't we see more of him. He is a class act.

Violence: Very violent Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, you briefly see some pole dancers on a TV screen. Language: Yes.

The plot was just too dumb to make a decent movie out of it

[rlange-3 · 3/10 · 7 May 2008]

I usually like the leads and the acting wasn't too bad but the plot and scripting was too ridiculous to hold your attention too long, especially for the last 20 minutes. I just wanted it to be over.

The junior bad guy just shows up in a bar and demands a meeting from one of the really tough guys. Who promptly dumps the woman he is with to listen to junior. And what is the message? That junior wants to meet the next day. Wow.

So they meet the next day and after some tough talk they decide to pull a bank job based on some information from some guy that only Junior knows. Why? Because Junior insists "he knows all the security and routines". It's hard not to ask whether guys this stupid can make it out of their teens.

And then after Gooding has killed a few of them, instead of just tracking him down and putting a bullet in his head they kidnap a little girl. Why make things so complicated? Apparently the only reason is to make us loathe them even more, but it comes across as another example of just too dumb to believe. A cheap ploy by a film that tries to take itself way too seriously. And we haven't even gotten to the shootout, where a guy yells stereotypic tough guy lines, then escapes the half dozen cops that are shooting at him by getting up and walking into the next room where he can take on the hero one on one. Or the reprise of the little girl. By that time I had the sound on and the video off and was reading email, waiting for the dumb thing to be over. I gave it a heartfelt 3. For Liotta and Gooding to be involved with this turkey should be an embarrassment to them both. Good grief.

Excellently gritty, but couldn't escape Hollywood. *spoilers*

[Nexual · 8 March 2008]

What I loved about this film was its seamy gritty portrayal of man's darker side. It is rare for a movie to probe that area of human nature. The happy-go-lucky Hollywood ending has become so cliché that it appears nobody wants to delve into the tragic aspect of life. But as a person who has lived in that reality for most of his life, I very much appreciate when directors, writers, and actors are willing to explore the lonely sadness, the vulnerability behind the hard mask, the hot desire for vengeance, and even the hopeless drive towards suicide that define a part of what it means to be human. The Law brothers clearly were writing with that intention and I applaud them for it.

What I disliked about this film was that despite covering such a rarely explored side of human nature, the Hollywood clichés sporadically broke through. The early action sequences were perfect: short, explosive, and tight. The final action sequence, on the other hand, fell into standard format: big long shootout, hero outruns some bullets, cops show up and the extras get shot, bad guy runs off and the hero gives chase leading to a final confrontation, etc. In fairness, however, big points need to be given for lots of unorthodox things. The primary antagonist role switched three times as each was killed off. And as mentioned in another review, there was great attention to detail with regard to reloading guns and such, which I assume is a credit to director Brian Smrz's vast experience as a stunt man.

Ultimately this picture seemed like it was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand it seems to have been written as a very dark examination of a troubled character seeking revenge, and even more poignantly, his own death. And similarly it seems the director had some uncommonly good ideas for the film. But then somewhere along the way, the film kept being pulled back to standard action movie hackneyed themes and theatrical devices. And, of course, the out of place happy ending had to be tacked onto the end (and yet even that had a darkness to it). It's as if the producers and the writers were constantly fighting with the director stuck in the middle, and only a few victories to each side.

My opinion follows this duality. I loved the story that was underneath. I survived the parts added over it that seemed so untrue to its nature. The acting was fine to good, and it'd have been a pretty good film if the final action sequence and the last minute hadn't ruined it.

A flawed movie about a flawed hero

[krachtm · 6/10 · 8 August 2012]

There's some real depth to Hero Wanted, but it's often buried under contrived and clichéd writing. The characters are interesting, but much of their development depends on plot elements that didn't really make too much sense. Still, if you're more interested in the themes and characters than you are in the actual plot, this movie can work for you.

The story is kind of interesting, but it's a bit complicated. Basically, Cuba Gooding, Jr plays a depressed loser who seeks meaning in his life, after terrible loss. Finding his inspiration, he is torn between seeking redemption and revenge, when it is taken away from him. Sounds kind of interesting, right? Well, the execution is a bit flawed, but I did appreciate the attempt to give me more than a basic, streamlined revenge movie.

Cuba Gooding, Jr has done quite a few of these direct-to-video action movies, and all have been flawed in some way. Still, I like him (and Ray Liotta) enough that I'll continue to watch them, even though they tend to get rated rather poorly on the IMDb. If you're the same way, then I recommend Hero Wanted. If not, maybe it's best that you just avoid it.

A waste of time and effort

[sheilacarr46 · 4/10 · 14 April 2008]

i have just watched this movie expecting a lot more than i got! it is amateurish and an insult to all movie goers intelligence. i expected so much more from Cuba Gooding. What is it these days with movie makers trying to be clever with their time shifting. I have no trouble following their efforts at trying to be clever but find it unnecessary and boring.The flawed hero idea and revenge concept never hits the mark and while most of us enjoy a good old revenge movie this one doesn't pull it off. It felt like a B movie and in the end thats what it was, save your money and don't waste your time with this one. Shame on Cuba Gooding for making it

Everyone needs a hero.

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 25 September 2008]

A small town garbage collector, Liam Case(Cuba Gooding, Jr.), becomes a hero when he pulls a little girl Marley(Sammi Hanratty)from a burning car. His celebrity cools off and he becomes almost a forgotten man. When he finds himself infatuated with a beautiful young bank teller(Christa Campbell), he wants to impress her by being a hero again. He schemes a fake bank robbery, but it goes horribly wrong. She is shot and left in a coma. Skinner McGraw(Kim Coates)and his gang that was robbing the bank for real immediately become Liam's targets of revenge. Liam begins brutally killing gang members; but not unnoticed. Detective Subcott(Ray Liotta)has a hunch who the center of attention is. Soon the hero Case is hunted by the law and the confederates who betrayed him.

This violent action-thriller is well paced and has more than enough to sustain interest. Some disturbing images, but don't expect a lot of gore. Also in the cast: Jean Smart, Tommy Flanagan, Steven Kozlowski and Ben Cross.

Re-write wanted

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 28 July 2008]

This daft DTV effort benefits from the presence of the ever reliable Ray Liotta but has little else going for it. I wonder if this is the kind of future the young Liotta saw for himself when on the set of Scorsese's Goodfellas: a succession of mostly lame and formulaic crime thrillers with few redeeming features.

Cuba Gooding takes centre stage as Liam Case, a garbage man who enjoys the kind of luck that would have most people reaching for the prozac; his wife and kid drown in a car crash from which he is unable to save them, and the new woman of his dreams ends up with a bullet hole in the head that sends her into a coma. Director Smrz unwisely chooses to play with the chronology of events for no apparent reason other than he's seen it done before and evidently thinks its cool. It used to be cool, now it's become dull through its over-use by directors who don't realise it's nothing more than a gimmick with the shortest of shelf lives.

Fortunately for Smrz he doesn't have to hold his hand up to the increasingly ridiculous twists inserted into the story in an attempt to keep the viewer interested. Case has to be one of the most pathetic heroes we have seen in a long time. The guy actually thinks the best way to get to know that woman of his dreams, who happens to be a bank teller, is to get his friend to stage a robbery so that he can play the hero. I mean, come on, that should be the pitch for a comedy not a 'serious' thriller.

As the film grows increasingly lost, the writers throw every cliché they can think of into the mix and, in the end, we end up with a young kid talking and thinking like an adult while holding a gun on the bad guys.

This is weak and lazy film-making in nearly every way imaginable.

Cuba Gooding not suitable for the role

[kinderhead · 6/10 · 23 June 2009]

Now don't get me wrong - cuba G is a versatile Oscar winning g actor, its just that this role was completely unsuited for him. Cant figure out why the director/producer/promoters shortlisted him for this role that needed a far more intense almost brooding character. Otherwise the movie is,as they say over here, Good Time Pass! Pretty violent and fast moving, with a rather confusing plot that unravels itself towards the end. found the 'bad' guys rather good actually, and the good guys, well, not so good, not even Ray Liotta who is also wasted in the smallish part that he plays. Ben Cross' also smallish role is played with the panache that ben does to all his roles. Hes; one of those actors who can play Victor or villain with equal ease and effectiveness. George Menon, Goa

good idea; poor execution

[beregic · 5/10 · 6 June 2008]

this COULD have had been great . the problem here is the convoluted plot, great script but poorly adjusted for any feature(no matter what the budget might/could been). however the plot and directions DO have their "moments" and i think Cuba Gooding Jr. is exceptionally great here . Ben Cross to some extent as well, but then again. the problem is that the plot does not develops the secondary characters enough to even give actors the chance to "play it". we have Ray Liotta as the best example of such underused and/or wasted actor/character "tallents". he might as well not be in the feature at all, i would not see the difference ; as a matter of a fact a "no name" might be able to be pulling his act with less damage to the movie's rating overall.

in my personal opinion this is a guy's movie. it is NOT the "mobster" type even if has strong such elements, and even leads to get that "vibe" at first. the start looks very promising, then about 40 minutes of "flash backs|( i think they were inserted just to make the story "longer"); then again about 10 minutes of interesting thoughts( that will make you consider this not as "bad" as might seem), only to disappoint towards end by typical "b-movie" shot executions. however the last 2 scenes might leave a great impressions since , i believe, the morals and ethics here are well determined.

all inn all this should had been, at best, a 30 minutes short movie and might had even been considered for "awards". but instead is fully commercialized as for "one time pay/view" and then to be "discared

Pleasantly surprised.

[hattonej · 8/10 · 10 June 2008]

I was pleasantly surprised with the movie. Seemed to me to have a B movie feel starting out. It does seem like everyone is into the time shifting plots these days, but once I realized it everything else seemed to follow. I found myself trying to anticipate the next connection of pass and present. Cuba Gooding Jr. did a good job of portraying a man tortured with his pass and present. I do have to take exception to the bar scenes though. I'm not sure that Ray Liota needed to bulk up for the part but he did. Jean Smart had me kind of wondering what was going to happen in the apartment scene. Although there is predominately a U.S. cast, I think the feel of the movie was off because it was filmed in eastern Europe. Straight to DVD but worth the watch in my opinion.

Mr Cuba Gooding Jr is back

[reprisecompilation · 7/10 · 3 January 2009]

Well, first of all, I must tell, I used to like Cuba Gooding Jr's acting in his early films. (You may remember the movie called "What Dreams May Come".)

Unfortunately, in the last some years he had too many too bad roles what ended with ridiculous performances (Just remember "Daddy Day Camp" or "Norbit").

He might have been burned out or just exhausted, or else his agent should have been fired in time, I do not know.

However, He is back now! In this movie ("Hero Wanted") his performance is well-thought, believable, and matured. It grabbed me at first.

Unfortunately, the director chose the 'cheaper' way, meaning more action and less internal struggling, but the first half of the movie is pretty enjoyable, and time to time good right timing is.

The twists are quite good in the first half of the movie, unfortunately, it becomes more predictive, and because of the "B movies" action scenes, the movie turns to be slow and boring.

Nevertheless, Mr Cuba Gooding Jr acts pretty good all over long, skipping his typical 'faces'. The cast is more or less a good choice (and Mr Ray Liotta's character could worth a whole -but another- movie).

All in all, it is worthy to watch, if you like a returning 'A movie' star in a 'B movie'. (And I liked him very much.)

My sympathy for Cuba Gooding Jr. - TELL ME WHY ?

[dominik96 · 3/10 · 14 April 2008]

The story: a victim with guilt takes justice into his own hands and is seeking revenge.

Recently there were two great movies that have the same basic idea.

THE BRAVE ONE - with Jodie Foster

DEATH SENTENCE - with Kevin Bacon

This movie doesn't bring anything new or better to the table, so that works against it.

The non-linear structure of this movie is not necessary, but was certainly used to make the movie appear clever - it isn't.

Ray Liotta as a good guy - waste of villain quality.

The music, when there, is only good for a much much darker movie - like SEVEN.

The director Brian Smrz has 68 appearances as a stuntman, so one can assume to see his experience in this field - NO STUNTS - NO ACTION ABOVE AVERAGE.

If you still want to watch this movie then I should mention the big holes of logic in the story. After an hour runtime logic and normal human thinking is in free-fall. I won't describe it in detail, because I could write about every minute from an hour till the end.

As an example I'll take the hostage scene at the end. The bad guys had plenty of opportunities to kill the main character LIAM , but they preferred to let him kill some of them first , before they are taking a hostage and are luring him out to a showdown. It doesn't matter that the bad guys had no problem to find him regularly before this incident - but now they need a hostage?? The hostage itself is another example how bad the story is. LIAM is a lonely guy, so who is gonna be a hostage? The script author had to construct a car crash with a young girl , who LIAM could rescue and build a friendship. Another nonsense scene with the young girl was , when she came to LIAM's car in the middle of the street at night and alone.And young is here not 16 or 15, the girl looks like 8 or 10 years old! It is really obvious how the script author had to construct the scene with the rescue of the young girl only to get his hostage, so cheap and artificial - just horrible.

You can watch this movie if you are male, your girlfriend is out of town, you have drunk some beer,the night is near,you love B-movies,have no possibility to get a good movie and you just need some company from the TV. The only other possible audience: tasteless and dumb human beings!

I can't imagine why people are giving this movie ratings higher than 6 or are describing the story as good? How can you compare a rating of 10 for this movie with a great movie like DEATH SENTENCE?

Now this movie has an average rating of above 6, but I am certain that when the hardcore Cuba Gooding fans are gone the rating will fall down like a stone.

My hero

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 31 August 2009]

Liam Case is suffering the tragedy of losing his wife in a terrible car accident. He is a trash collection man who tries to drown his sorrows in the bottle. One day Liam happens to be close to an accident in which a young girl is trapped in an overturned car that is burning. Putting his life in danger, he rescues the girl and his action is noticed by the media.

What follows is a story in which Liam decides to make himself a hero to attract the attention of a pretty bank teller, Keila. For that he has enlisted his buddy Swain, a bad choice. Unknown to Liam, Swain tells a low life, Lynch, of Liam's plan to plan a "fake" bank robbery so that he will appear to be the young woman's hero when he went after the bad guys, but the heist turns sour, derailing the original idea.

"Hero Wanted" is an action film in which the violence is right on the viewer's face. Brian Smrz, the director, shows an affinity to the genre. The basic problem with the film is the screenplay by Chad and Evan Law. The basic premise is far fetched and it doesn't make sense most of the time.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a likable actor, who unfortunately deserved better. Ray Liotta, who has done much better in his career, is relegated to a supporting role that also will not add anything to his resume. Jean Marsh, Norman Reedus, Kim Coates, Tommy Flannagan, Christa Campbell are seen in minor roles.

worthable watch movie

[mailtorajeshiv · 7/10 · 22 April 2009]

i really enjoy the movie. All the scenes are shown in flash backs and reverse screen play. it is the story of the man who lost his wife and fell in love with a lady working in bank.He feels that what ever he lost in life can be get back only if he can loved by that lady(bank teller).so that he had planned with his friend to be noticied by bank teller with a plan.but things go wrong when his friend cheated him with local mobstars crew by robbery which leads to injured the bank teller(lover) and him.After recovering from injury his(cuba) job is to find the robbery crew and kill them.on the other hand the robbery gang want to catch him to kill.

cuba acting is excellent.

What was he thinking?

[fellattiouk · 2/10 · 7 April 2008]

On the outside a film about revenge, anguish and justice along with a 'nothing-to-loose' attitude makes a pretty good film, its been attempted many times before, most lately: Death Sentence, Punisher and Payback. All done really well, especially Payback - truly genius.

What this film gained in story and good lead actors (Cuba Gooding Jr - Oscar winning actor and Ray Liotta) failed miserably with actors from the other end of the spectrum, that let alone possessed bad acting skills but even managed to bring the lead roles acting abilities down a notch. Part of me thinks this was all an attempt by the director to dull down the picture, make it seem 'real' and gritty..... But bad acting is bad acting! If a more gritty appeal was at the forefront of the directors aims, the production team should look closely at the camera work, any attempt to make a gritty, natural experience would quickly diminish with really bad camera angles and pace during the action sequences.

Above all, the musical score is terrible, what place does sultry jazz music play in 21 Century motion pictures? I could feel myself cringe as the melo-dramatic tones of 'cheesy' jazz would play over the lonely scenes with Liam Case (Cuba) battling with his emotions before embarking on a revenge trip. Even Cuba Gooding's acting ability couldn't break through the thickly spread seedy jazz tones, in-experienced camera work and poor acting talents.

Worth watching for the story maybe..... But leave all movie taste at the front door.

One of the best that Cuba Gooding has done in a long time...

[fistjedi · 7/10 · 14 July 2008]

A recent direct to DVD starring Cuba Gooding Jr and Ray Liotta. Cuba Gooding Jr. is Liam Case, a garbageman who aimlessly does his job and drinks a lot. He drinks because he remembers how his wife and their unborn child drowned in a car accident several years ago. Liam tried his utmost to save both of them, but failed to do so. One day Liam is walking along and sees a flaming car. A little girl is trapped inside. Without thinking, Liam rushes into the car and saves the child's life. The city loves him, and Case feels like he has finally found a calling as a hero.

However, people have their 15 minutes of fame, and then the world moves on. Case is no exception. Everyone forgets about the garbageman after a while, and Liam crawls back into another bottle. Then he's in a bank trying to cash a check and the bank gets robbed by a band of crooks. Liam tries his best to stop the robbers and gets shot for his troubles. Also, a bank teller is shot as well. While sitting in the hospital, Liam decides to find the robbers and dispense justice upon them. Easier said than done. Just because fighting bad guys looks easy on TV doesn't make it easy in real life.

Again, I haven't given away anything that you wouldn't see on the back of the DVD cover. Then it gets crazier. Cuba Gooding Jr. has his highs and lows in his film career, but Hero Wanted is one of his best roles to date. His portrayal as a troubled garbageman and his attempts at heroism remind me of Tobey Maguire's portrayal of Peter Parker and Spiderman. I kid you not. One moment, Gooding is all mild mannered and sad, the next he can be kicking butt with the best of them. There are some brutal beat downs as well. Plus there's a plot twist that you usually don't see in these kind of films.

Its a crying shame that Hero Wanted did not go to the movie theaters, because its a sleeper hit. Its not the best film on earth, but it could have stomped a lot of this crap that came out this year if it had a shot in theaters. Go rent Hero Wanted if you can.

Terrible movies are better than this one . . .

[r-f-bradford80 · 2/10 · 21 May 2008]

How did this movie make it to the shelf at my local video store? A decent movie needs 2 of 3 things. Those things are 1. Dialog 2. Filmography 3. Acting. I rate them either pass or fail. Keep in mind that i'm a movie lover and I enjoy watching movies. I don't always need to watch an A+ movie. I can be happy with a D+ sometimes.

1. Dialog/script: Failed. Unbelievable. Unconviencing. Uneducated. 2. Filmograpy: Failed. It just wasn't interesting enough to make up for the failed dialog. 3. Acting: Pass. Even with crappy lines, the actors add some credibility to the over all film.

I believe that the script is the heart of any movie. If the script is good I can deal with bad acting. Or sometimes if the filmography is awesome I can deal a bad script.

There are good things to pull away from this movie. Even if those things are the "what not to do next times".

If want to watch a bad movie. This is a good one!

Could have been a great movie

[ashleynwaldron · 6/10 · 17 February 2012]

I originally watched this to see Kim Coates and Tommy Flanagan. Can't stand Cuba Gooding Jr, so that probably biased it a little for me, but even with that...

This had the potential to be a great movie. Interesting -albeit sometimes confusing -plot line, the story is told in reverse order at times, which makes it a bit hard to follow, but nothing too serious.

The character of Liam Case (played by Gooding) could have been much more fleshed out. Instead, we only see the result of what he's doing, with no real clear motive on why. Even with Gooding's mediocre acting skills, there was a lot missing, that could have made it ten times better.

Other than him, this was a fairly good movie. Nothing that would make my favorites list, or even something I'd watch more than once, but it's not a bad little movie to pass the time.

As Confusing as Obama; As Painful as the Ragin' Rhoids

[Bob_Zerunkel · 1/10 · 27 May 2011]

Some reviewers like this movie because it is an action movie. This isn't an action movie. There is supposed to be action in it, but you never really see it. What you do see is a hodge-podge of cut scenes at awkward angles.

Some reviewers like this movie because of its artsy-fartsy non-linear storytelling technique. I don't agree with them, but I do sympathize. It must have been a shock for them to discover that there are no useful applications for a liberal arts degree. So when something like this comes along, it is natural to grasp at straws and declare that this movie is true art. Sadly, they are basing their claims on what their freshman professor said about some Italian guy who was loved at Cannes and ignored by the public. Being part of the public, I say that it's not a good movie if you have to keep saying "Who is that?," "What did that mean?," and most importantly, "When will this piece of crap be over?"

Some reviewers like this movie because of the actors. Cuba Gooding is a great actor. Ray Liotta is as good (or bad) as ever. The rest of the cast are very minor actors who once were or someday may join Liotta on the bottom of the B list.

Personally, I started having trouble with this movie when the bank teller got shot in the head at close range and ended up with only a black spot of grease paint on her forehead. Apparently, you go into a coma if you get grease paint on your face.

Overall, this movie had great potential but fell short because of two people: the guy who hired the director, and the guy who approved the script.

This movie would make a great gift for your mother-in-law, but don't give it to anyone that you like.

Pretty solid movie

[derirre357 · 8/10 · 17 March 2008]

This comment may contain spoilers !!! I liked this movie a lot. The reminds me of a few others - "Before the devil knows You're dead" and "Death sentence" come to mind. The non-linear structure of the movie makes the story looks more clever than it actually is. I found it OK though, nothing to complain about. The acting is solid for the genre. There are some unrealistic moments - major injuries have much lesser effect on the guy who sustained them... On the other hand I liked very much the gunplay because in real life not many people are good shots, especially when in combat situation i.e. when the target is in fact shooting back. The characters were reloading often enough, the slides were remaining in rear position after the last shell has been ejected and shooting both guns simultaneously resulted in hitting nothing. Cool. There is even a moment where a guy is teaching the main character how to shoot and tells him "forget about the movies.... now support the bottom of your gun with your left hand and don't pull the trigger.. squeeze it!" I actually thought that the movie was gonna pretty bad and I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely worth watching.

So Disappointing

[lordbarney · 1/10 · 9 March 2011]

I had high hopes for this film as I do like most of Cuba Gooding Jr and Ray Liotta's movies. However they both looked like desperate actors in the last throws of their careers trying to make a little extra cash. The story line showed some promise but it was executed so badly. For the first part of the film I had absolutely no idea what part of the story we were constantly being transported to. With Cuba Gooding's constant commentary droning on throughout the film to try and keep you updated. any film worth its mettle should never have to do this. It was if the writer was trying to make it something special by doing this but instead it just bores you to tears. Unfortunately I came to the conclusion that I did not care about anyone in the film.and therefore tried to enjoy the action- not even that delivered. So disappointed and if Fight Factory continue making this drivel I will not be watching any more.

Too much dialog not enough action.

[nathan-yeo · 1/10 · 25 July 2009]

Cuba GOODING JR, is the Shaquille O'NEAL of str8 2 video movies. He's a tremendous talent who's top heavy , and over-blown performance does nothing but slows things down your production.

A heist film with plenty of flash-backs a-la reservoir dogs anyone? Been there done that howeva most of these films are interesting and funny like "The hard easy". This one is heavy and plodding. over-written and over-acted it takes the long way to get to a simple point. A heist film revenge film should boring you in and have you sitting at the edge of your seat. This one was like c'mon already kill somebody. Yes it had a great cast, yes it was well written, yes it had good productions but it was still a bad film. A boring film.

This is what makes America Great?

[davyd-02237 · 2/10 · 25 June 2020]

I survived 10 minutes of this film which included several profanities and several blasphemies which showed where this was going, given the opening is in a bar with the "hero" of the piece already drunk.....I cant give you the rest, its so sad that the film industry is throwing huge sums of money at films which dont have much going for them ....dont bother with this one!