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drwexA violent fast-paced action shooter that discards plot almost entirely in favor of excitement. 3/5 stars for solid if uninventive work all around.
Luc Besson is credited with the original story, adapted into a screenplay by Adi Hasak, who is mostly known for TV work, and directed by Pierre Morel. It still feels like a Luc Besson film, and the lead role is one that feels written for a Bruce Willis.
Instead, we get Travolta, a choice I was not sure would work. Liking John Travolta is not guaranteed. I actually first saw Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and "Welcome Back Kotter". Since then he's played a lot of roles and I've often disliked them. Notable exceptions being things like Face/Off, Broken Arrow, and of course Pulp Fiction - he seems to do well when he has very capable directors.
Here he plays the "throw out the rulebook" experienced agent who drags along newbie James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Travolta fills out the role admirably - every time he does something you want to hate him for it turns out he has a good reason for it. He's aggressive and a bit obnoxious but it never turns into him being an outright asshole.
Early on we see that Reese has ambitions to be a "real" agent instead of doing the trivial fetch-and-carry chores he's assigned. Charlie Wax (Travolta) gives him that and more. Reese is, at first, being presented with a stark choice: go on living your current life, marrying the pretty woman you're engaged to versus be like Charlie and watch the bodies pile up.
The plot, such as it is, involves essentially Islamic terrorism and skates awfully close to racist stereotypes. That it avoids falling entirely into that cesspit is nice, but I still felt uncomfortable with some of the depictions. Partly, I think, this is due to the bad guys remaining faceless and largely nameless for most of the movie.
Not really much to say about this one. If you're in the mood for violent mind-candy you could do a lot worse, but I don't think this will bear re-watching.
Luc Besson is credited with the original story, adapted into a screenplay by Adi Hasak, who is mostly known for TV work, and directed by Pierre Morel. It still feels like a Luc Besson film, and the lead role is one that feels written for a Bruce Willis.
Instead, we get Travolta, a choice I was not sure would work. Liking John Travolta is not guaranteed. I actually first saw Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and "Welcome Back Kotter". Since then he's played a lot of roles and I've often disliked them. Notable exceptions being things like Face/Off, Broken Arrow, and of course Pulp Fiction - he seems to do well when he has very capable directors.
Here he plays the "throw out the rulebook" experienced agent who drags along newbie James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Travolta fills out the role admirably - every time he does something you want to hate him for it turns out he has a good reason for it. He's aggressive and a bit obnoxious but it never turns into him being an outright asshole.
Early on we see that Reese has ambitions to be a "real" agent instead of doing the trivial fetch-and-carry chores he's assigned. Charlie Wax (Travolta) gives him that and more. Reese is, at first, being presented with a stark choice: go on living your current life, marrying the pretty woman you're engaged to versus be like Charlie and watch the bodies pile up.
The plot, such as it is, involves essentially Islamic terrorism and skates awfully close to racist stereotypes. That it avoids falling entirely into that cesspit is nice, but I still felt uncomfortable with some of the depictions. Partly, I think, this is due to the bad guys remaining faceless and largely nameless for most of the movie.
Not really much to say about this one. If you're in the mood for violent mind-candy you could do a lot worse, but I don't think this will bear re-watching.
