I'll certainly say one thing for this movie...I'm surprised it hasn't received any sort of real theater time (to my knowledge). You'd think that Dennis Quaid's name alone could carry at least a decent box office take. But no matter...that's not really the point of a review now is it? Horsemen represents a fairly decent shot in the arm for the often tired and overdone thriller genre. It's hard to explain exactly why without giving away too much about the movie, but it takes a different angle that keeps it somewhat (but not entirely) exciting. I mean sure, some of the horribly tired themes are there like Quaid playing the cop whose lost his wife and is a serious contender for worst father of the year. He drinks, he ignores his kids, and he ditches them any time work calls him on his cell. As annoying and trite as it seems, it's kind of essential to the story so I guess you have to let it go. Ziyi Zhang does a good job as the antagonist toying with Quaid throughout most of the film, but it's not quite on par with some of her Chinese language offerings. And Peter Stormare...his name is listed in the opening credits, but he's literally in the movie for all of 2 scenes and a total of 3 minutes or so. Why even bother? You could hire any poor schmuck off the street and it would've worked just as well.
All in all the film represents a kind of offering that is better than expected even if you do see the ending from a mile off. It's also a bit of redemption for Michael Bay as far as I'm concerned (assuming it's the same Michael Bay that did Transformers, Pearl Harbor, The 2009 version of Friday The 13th, etc.). Unlike 99% of his projects, there isn't a single computerized special effect in this film. Well...at least one that's noticeable. Definitely worth the watch if you're up for this sort of thing. Then again, if you're not up for this sort of thing, why the hell are you looking it up on IMDb?
All in all the film represents a kind of offering that is better than expected even if you do see the ending from a mile off. It's also a bit of redemption for Michael Bay as far as I'm concerned (assuming it's the same Michael Bay that did Transformers, Pearl Harbor, The 2009 version of Friday The 13th, etc.). Unlike 99% of his projects, there isn't a single computerized special effect in this film. Well...at least one that's noticeable. Definitely worth the watch if you're up for this sort of thing. Then again, if you're not up for this sort of thing, why the hell are you looking it up on IMDb?