I saw this on TV the other night, I knew it wasn't going to be an Oscar worthy movie, but I like action movies (especially John Woo) - so I don't' mind a lot of fighting/violence and I don't need it sanitized or stylized and I like seeing things set in Russia.
However this was just one dark, brutal unoriginal movie with no redeeming value.
I've only seen a few other of Dolph's earlier films and I think he's a solid actor, but he's just barely adequate as a director.
The plot was completely unoriginal. The pacing was a little off. Too many long traveling scenes (was that just to enhance the bleakness of life?). The usual bad guys shoot directly at the good guys & can never hit them problem.
The final drawback for me was the one-dimensional portrayal of the women. We had the pathetic victim (thank you for at least not having her fall for Dolph & try to do a happy ending!!!). Then we had the moneygrubbing prostitute. And of course the gratuitous whorehouse scenes.
That final scene where the Englishman stands over the body of the woman he professed to care about and just pour alcohol (presumably a repentance of his drinking?) on her body and then walk away from her corpse to let it just rot there was disgusting.
IMO: While I've seen worse, this was still not worth watching.
However this was just one dark, brutal unoriginal movie with no redeeming value.
I've only seen a few other of Dolph's earlier films and I think he's a solid actor, but he's just barely adequate as a director.
The plot was completely unoriginal. The pacing was a little off. Too many long traveling scenes (was that just to enhance the bleakness of life?). The usual bad guys shoot directly at the good guys & can never hit them problem.
The final drawback for me was the one-dimensional portrayal of the women. We had the pathetic victim (thank you for at least not having her fall for Dolph & try to do a happy ending!!!). Then we had the moneygrubbing prostitute. And of course the gratuitous whorehouse scenes.
That final scene where the Englishman stands over the body of the woman he professed to care about and just pour alcohol (presumably a repentance of his drinking?) on her body and then walk away from her corpse to let it just rot there was disgusting.
IMO: While I've seen worse, this was still not worth watching.