Director: Boaz Yakin
Writer: Boaz Yakin
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Jason Statham | … | |
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Catherine Chan | … | |
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Robert John Burke | … | |
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James Hong | … | |
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Anson Mount | … | |
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Chris Sarandon | … | |
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Sándor Técsy | … | |
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Joseph Sikora | … |
Vassily Docheski
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Igor Jijikine | … |
Chemyakin
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Reggie Lee | … | |
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James Colby | … | |
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Matt O’Toole | … |
Detective Lasky
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Jack Gwaltney | … | |
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Barry Bradford | … | |
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Jay Giannone | … |
A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright, lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change, until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever. But when he witnesses a frightened twelve-year-old Chinese girl, Mei, being pursued by the same gangsters who killed his wife, Luke impulsively jumps to action…and straight into the heart of a deadly high-stakes war. Realizing he’s the only person Mei can trust, Luke tears a swath through the city’s brutal underworld to save an innocent girls life, and perhaps even redeem his own.
I think it’s safe to say (see what I did there?) That this movie, though it looked like crap, satisfied on many levels. The movie can be seen as a lot of things, but to be frank, it is simply an action movie like any other. This one just has Jason Statham, and a moral that is kind of relevant today. I had posted a trailer for it not too long ago on here, and I’ll be honest, besides Statham, there wasn’t ANYTHING having me wanting to watch this movie.
*[SPOILER ALERT]*
The story (editing aside) was, for the most part well executed. At times I felt bombarded by information, but at the same time it added to the depth and added a “thriller” side of the story. I didn’t expect it to be like that, I thought it was gonna be very simple in terms of the goal, and just full of action. The beginning felt rushed, but in the overall scope of things, when the movie is over it makes sense why it was rushed, for they had quite a bit to explain. Gets the benign stuff out the way cause really they could have explained that at any time in the movie. I was at a drive in so I missed a few things thanks, in part, to the quick cross-cutting editing and the switching between english and subtitles. That got a tad bit annoying but meh, it wasn’t longer than 30 mins into the movie. The only flaw I had with the movie was at the end. (like I was actually MAD lol) All I’ll say is *[SPOILER]* the girl saves Luke from what would have been a wicked fight (I was hoping Luke was gonna fight this dude). He seemed like he would have gave him a run for his money.
The acting from Statham is probably his best performance to date. He just had this real emotion, especially when his character arrives home to some really bad news, he still acts like a bad ass. He just had a better connection to this role, as opposed to him only playing a bad ass. I don’t know if that is because of something, or just method acting, but either way it worked (hell, it could have been just good direction). He even has some wicked lines, and his delivery alone easily makes him the best actor in the film. The other actors didn’t really sell some of their lines as compared to the stunts they had to do. They weren’t unbearable or anything, just didn’t have the same kind of skill, though that may have been intentional.
The cinematography was done so well in terms of the selection of angles. The director of photography was so on point here–The angles and the use of mirrors was really refreshing. There wasn’t much that I noticed for meaningful shots, though that may have been in part to eating while watching the movie. Yes, there was shaky cam, but itt wasn’t as bad as others have been, just some of the fight scenes suffer because of the style. *sigh…* I wish this trend would stop.
The editing was ok, there wasn’t much to complain with there, it was just ok.
Now, I’m not trying to get all into this topic here, but for any one following the Trayvon Martin case, I thought this movie was a nice “flipped” scenario in a way. Instead of following and harming the child, a hero came from the brink of committing suicide to help protect this child. Though fictional and most likely not intentional, it did have that connection, and if not then I made it for you. this movies moral is quite simply, when you’re in the need of a new beginning, simply look out and open your eyes, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN!
- Overall rating of the movie: 3.8 out of 5,
- Cinematography: 3 out of 5,
- Editing: 3 out of 5,
- Audio: 3 out of 5,
- Acting: 3.2 out of 5,
- Theatres or wait for the blu-ray? Theatre.
THAT’S IT! Cheers: “To Peace” and May the Force be with you!
– Xavier – @CoolyoNgeLEW
eLEWsive Thoughts 