Being a Brit, I found Michael Chiklis’ accent very accurate, however, the dialogue was written by a non Brit, as is painfully obvious to my ears. Having a guy called bloody “Nigel” was so stereotypical to Brits, as is saying “geezer” or even saying “love” after each sentence, when addressing another adult. You don’t point a “shootaa” (shooter) at a ladies head, and then say “move over there love.” Enough of my bitchin’!
First time director David A. Armstrong has worked on a lot of movies as a cinematographer, among other things, so he obviously paid attention. He kept up a decent pace and never allowed any slack which for this to be successful was paramount, because the final act took my “willing suspension of disbelief” to new levels. If the majority of the film hadn’t been as good as it was, the whole thing would have fallen apart at the end. However, it held thanks to a wonderful cast of which I knew just about every main actor, and a lot of the others.
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Some cast members were on-screen far longer than others, but isn’t that the way with ‘straight to Blu-ray’ flicks? The last film I saw Forrest Whitaker in was the tidy little indie Catch .44 where he also featured with Nikki Reed. Even so, all the “names” got a chance to flex a bit of acting muscle, including Ray Liotta and Stephen Lang. I recently saw Last Exit to Brooklyn with Stephen Lang and I gotta say, he was brilliant in it. Anywho, It’s a good cast.
The bottom line; patchy but decent enough writing, solid acting, not too sure about the actual casting, not the greatest set of characters but the overall production was quite good, and kept me glued to the screen. A solid action flick.
Grade: C+
Review by Ed Blackadder, Lead Entertainment Writer
