The storyline was mildly interesting, about Statham attempting to rescue De Niro from the hands of a sheik who wants Statham to seek and destroy several people that killed the sheik's three sons. The story follows their brief investigations along the way. Statham also recruits Dominic Purcell (Blade Trinity) and another. The investigations give a hint of what they're looking for, then they search and almost always find their target without much trouble. That's the gist of the storyline throughout. No major spikes in the flat line story till the end. Just an observation.
Being a huge action fan, this is what I paid to see after a good storyline. The action fight scenes featuring Statham are poor at best, not because of Statham or his enemy, but do to the director of photography filming too tight on the action, and the editor cutting every split second to another angle, resulting in the infamous "What just happened? Who hit who? What the hell is going on here?" This style is mostly reserved for low budget TV shows, though I can think of one that puts this movie's fight scenes to shame. A wasted opportunity probably in an attempt to rush through the scene. If film makers think action fans don't care, they need to think again and stop giving us a jumbled, incoherent mess of a fight scene.
The shoot outs are decent, but De Niro barely has his moments, since the story line keeps him as the one needing rescue. (See Ronin for his best).
Beware to those looking for Jason Statham in a new classic fight scene. It's not found here.
Being a huge action fan, this is what I paid to see after a good storyline. The action fight scenes featuring Statham are poor at best, not because of Statham or his enemy, but do to the director of photography filming too tight on the action, and the editor cutting every split second to another angle, resulting in the infamous "What just happened? Who hit who? What the hell is going on here?" This style is mostly reserved for low budget TV shows, though I can think of one that puts this movie's fight scenes to shame. A wasted opportunity probably in an attempt to rush through the scene. If film makers think action fans don't care, they need to think again and stop giving us a jumbled, incoherent mess of a fight scene.
The shoot outs are decent, but De Niro barely has his moments, since the story line keeps him as the one needing rescue. (See Ronin for his best).
Beware to those looking for Jason Statham in a new classic fight scene. It's not found here.