From the cliché ridden 1-dimensional plot to the 2-dimensional cardboard cutout non-characters, this movie amazingly lacks even a single redeeming feature. Should come with a disclaimer - "the presence of well known actors in no way implies that any skill or talent was involved in the making of this movie." There are many ways to approach this kind of story - lone protagonist wrongly accused and hunted by the authorities, and by the bad guys, who is the only one who can prevent Something Bad Happening. This movie approaches it by lazy scripting, indifference to any kind of realism, not bothering with dialog or scenes that might have added a touch of individuality to any of the characters. Each character is a cliché to him/herself, and does/says nothing to personalise the role. Each scene either directly furthers the single-track plot, or fills time until the next plot point is reached. Without these empty scenes, the whole movie would be over in about 15 minutes.
Now, if it had a seriously agile kick-ass protagonist and an endless supply of kung-fu baddie henchmen instead of one tired looking former 007, then it could have been a wonderful Jacky Chan movie, despite the lack of plot and characters, just get the director to plant cameras on tripods and let the fight scenes unfold before our astonished eyes, and make sure the editor goes easy on the cuts. That way you could have 75 minutes of action and 15 minutes of obligatory (but don't take it seriously) plot to frame it, and everyone would have been happy.
Ah, maybe that's what it was. They found a script for a martial arts vehicle and thought they could skip the martial arts, too hard, too expensive, can't be bothered. In a word, lazy.
As a film-school assignment, it would earn an F.
Some nice shots of London, I suppose.
Now, if it had a seriously agile kick-ass protagonist and an endless supply of kung-fu baddie henchmen instead of one tired looking former 007, then it could have been a wonderful Jacky Chan movie, despite the lack of plot and characters, just get the director to plant cameras on tripods and let the fight scenes unfold before our astonished eyes, and make sure the editor goes easy on the cuts. That way you could have 75 minutes of action and 15 minutes of obligatory (but don't take it seriously) plot to frame it, and everyone would have been happy.
Ah, maybe that's what it was. They found a script for a martial arts vehicle and thought they could skip the martial arts, too hard, too expensive, can't be bothered. In a word, lazy.
As a film-school assignment, it would earn an F.
Some nice shots of London, I suppose.