Its pretty sad when after the first half hour, you're already thinking "how are they going to kill the next forty minutes?"
The entire plot...lock, stock and barrel, is played, replayed, and replayed over and over with just enough variation to make you wish that they had done it once well instead of half assed many times. Nut job escapes into wilderness, gets chased, gets caught, does it again. Lather rinse repeat.
Just for additional torture, we get all sorts of missed opportunities that could have made this movie bearable.but instead wind up as clichés that feel like they're only there JUST IN CASE we might wind up with some sympathy for Benicio Del Toro. He's a war hero that can't take it anymore; he dupes a woman into taking him in and lying for him; he views his trainer as the father he never had; he marks passages in the Bible. All these things that could have developed into something interesting are left flapping almost as if they're only there because no whacked out guy in the woods movie should be without them.
Why did this man join the military? How did he get into Special Forces? What was his relationship with L.T? What was his relationship with this woman like? What about the kid.is it his? Sadly, we'll never know but it sure does provide a nice distraction to think about when he evades capture..for the third time.
The fight scenes, while especially bloody and personal, are something of a disappointment. Granted, they're probably more realistic this way, but they pretty much boil down to two middle aged men slapping each other and rolling around in the dirt. You WANT it to be exciting, but it just doesn't deliver. Same goes for the cat and mouse escape and evade scenes. You want them to be suspenseful, but a camera cutting away, returning to the same spot and, *SURPRISE!* he's not there anymore!, just isn't edge of your seat material.
In one of the most predictable moments in the film, L.T. reads a letter addressed to him from our nutty soldier saying that the people after him are robots.
If only it were true..
The entire plot...lock, stock and barrel, is played, replayed, and replayed over and over with just enough variation to make you wish that they had done it once well instead of half assed many times. Nut job escapes into wilderness, gets chased, gets caught, does it again. Lather rinse repeat.
Just for additional torture, we get all sorts of missed opportunities that could have made this movie bearable.but instead wind up as clichés that feel like they're only there JUST IN CASE we might wind up with some sympathy for Benicio Del Toro. He's a war hero that can't take it anymore; he dupes a woman into taking him in and lying for him; he views his trainer as the father he never had; he marks passages in the Bible. All these things that could have developed into something interesting are left flapping almost as if they're only there because no whacked out guy in the woods movie should be without them.
Why did this man join the military? How did he get into Special Forces? What was his relationship with L.T? What was his relationship with this woman like? What about the kid.is it his? Sadly, we'll never know but it sure does provide a nice distraction to think about when he evades capture..for the third time.
The fight scenes, while especially bloody and personal, are something of a disappointment. Granted, they're probably more realistic this way, but they pretty much boil down to two middle aged men slapping each other and rolling around in the dirt. You WANT it to be exciting, but it just doesn't deliver. Same goes for the cat and mouse escape and evade scenes. You want them to be suspenseful, but a camera cutting away, returning to the same spot and, *SURPRISE!* he's not there anymore!, just isn't edge of your seat material.
In one of the most predictable moments in the film, L.T. reads a letter addressed to him from our nutty soldier saying that the people after him are robots.
If only it were true..