I finally rented this movie after avoiding it for a long time (mainly because of Travolta). I was fully justified. His hammy acting is unbelievably bad. You cannot believe for a single moment that he is either as menacing or as powerful as he claims. There is nothing redeeming about his character or acting.
First of all, the plot as other reviewers have mentioned, is sieve-like. The opening sequence, while interesting, is used over and over again later in the film--We get it, you blew most of your budget on that. Not to mention, that a terrified, and screaming teen-aged girl is blown to bits. It appears that they wanted to get the reaction that most of the positive reviews have noted: that slo-mo 360 pans of a bomb's effects are really cool. Not withstanding that innocent people are killed and a city block is decimated.
Next, the only actor to escape relatively unscathed is Hugh Jackman, although I bet he wishes he'd chosen another movie. Let's hope his next pairing with Halle Berry is much better.
Now to some of the many incomprehensible situations in the movie:
You detain a ostensibly "Finnish" but inexplicably German-speaking hacker but leave him alone and unguarded so that two Euro-trash thugs can trick you with a misleading phone call and prance into an federal interrogation area with guns brandished?!
The hacking is so silly and unbelievable. Stanley (Jackman) sees the system they want him use and gapes incredulously merely because it has multiple monitors running a screen-saver?! And cracking 128-bit encrypted passwords only takes him 60 seconds! Wow, why he didn't he clean up his record or create a new identity for himself? He is a super-genius, after all.
Oh, it's ok that Travolta's character steals money and kills innocent people. He's doing it for the common (read American) good. So what if his plans to nuke cities, etc. will result in the deaths of innocent civilians around the world including Americans?! Truly despicable plot-line.
Also, the only female characters in this movie are bimbos or victims or both. I guess that's one of the main rules of mainstream action flicks--misogyny is normal and justified.
O stars from me. There is nothing to like and many things to actively hate in this stupid, morally empty, pathetic excuse for a film.
First of all, the plot as other reviewers have mentioned, is sieve-like. The opening sequence, while interesting, is used over and over again later in the film--We get it, you blew most of your budget on that. Not to mention, that a terrified, and screaming teen-aged girl is blown to bits. It appears that they wanted to get the reaction that most of the positive reviews have noted: that slo-mo 360 pans of a bomb's effects are really cool. Not withstanding that innocent people are killed and a city block is decimated.
Next, the only actor to escape relatively unscathed is Hugh Jackman, although I bet he wishes he'd chosen another movie. Let's hope his next pairing with Halle Berry is much better.
Now to some of the many incomprehensible situations in the movie:
You detain a ostensibly "Finnish" but inexplicably German-speaking hacker but leave him alone and unguarded so that two Euro-trash thugs can trick you with a misleading phone call and prance into an federal interrogation area with guns brandished?!
The hacking is so silly and unbelievable. Stanley (Jackman) sees the system they want him use and gapes incredulously merely because it has multiple monitors running a screen-saver?! And cracking 128-bit encrypted passwords only takes him 60 seconds! Wow, why he didn't he clean up his record or create a new identity for himself? He is a super-genius, after all.
Oh, it's ok that Travolta's character steals money and kills innocent people. He's doing it for the common (read American) good. So what if his plans to nuke cities, etc. will result in the deaths of innocent civilians around the world including Americans?! Truly despicable plot-line.
Also, the only female characters in this movie are bimbos or victims or both. I guess that's one of the main rules of mainstream action flicks--misogyny is normal and justified.
O stars from me. There is nothing to like and many things to actively hate in this stupid, morally empty, pathetic excuse for a film.