Getting pushed back from its Christmas release, this latest slam-bang thriller with Ben Affleck barely holds up in suspense or even originality value and gets lowered to the ranks of being Hollywood's movie of the week. There was a cheesy stink all over this film and many of the action scenes were unappealling and just plain boring. If you've watched sub-standard action thrillers such as The Eraser, Airforce One, etc. than you know what to expect.
The story follows convict Rudy Duncon(Affleck) in prison for grand theft auto. With only six days remaining in his sentence he is anxiously awaiting his mug of hot chocolate on the outside world, while his cellmate Nick (James Frain) has more to look foward to. Being penpals with this girl by the name of Ashley (Theron) he waits to see her while all the time bragging about her to Rudy. But before he is released a violent prison fight erupts and Nick is killed flagrently in the madness. When Rudy is released, he assumes the identity of Nick and meets up with Ashley in order of not making her feel disappointed. So after some successful lying he establishes a relationship with her but his enthusiasm is short-lived when he finds out about her psychotic brother Gabriel. WIth his pack of gun-runners they plan a heist on an Indian casino. Thinking that Rudy is the actual Nick, they want him to help with the heist, since Nick himself was a security guard at the joint. He is forced to do it all the while relying on Ashley's love for him.
This is your typical action thriller with the usual explosions and what-not. The ending's a twist but it doesn't really make sense and by the time you get to it the film's already run out of steam. All the charactors are one dimensional good or bad guys and the acting is just passable. The script is peppered with a few humourous moments here and there (one thug starts reading Business Weekly and discusses the stock market) but overall its very boring and situations are predicatable. The only I enjoyed this film is the scene with Rudy saving Ashley underneath a frozen lake. But even that seemed like a scene out of Cliffhanger and the next scene is even more of a dead give-away to Cliffhanger when a person coming around for help is blantantly killed.
The film's major weakness is the surprising lack of violence its supposed to provide for a movie of this stature. The charactors flash off guns and cock them like more than fifteen times in the movie but they hardly shoot off a round. Instead Rudy is always being threatened to be shot in "tense" arguements with Gabriel. This goes on for more than half of the film's duration and it frankly gets quite tedious and you lose interest rapidly. Many talents were wasted and Ergan Krugar's knack for surprise endings get a shot at this film. Mentioned earlier on, it makes no sense but for a film like this, you can leave logic at the door.
RATING: **