I recently caught this film, billed as an action/drama/suspense flick, quite by accident, and immediately wondered why I saw no promo for it...
First off, it was nice to see Sean Bean, who has played some bad ass bad guys (eg. Patriot Games, Goldeneye), get to play the bad ass good guy, Ewan. No other actors were known to me, except for Charlotte Rampling, who was in the short Ghost Recon: Alpha. This was not a disadvantage as all the major and minor characters played their parts well. Rampling in particular did well as the pseudo "M" character.
The movie begins with more drama than action, and enough keeps going wrong, that you begin to wonder if Ewan still should be in this "game." But his ruthlessness (again, pseudo Bond) proves that he should. The plot is heavy with the middle east and terrorism situation and there is a considerable amount of socio-political undercurrent; there is plenty of ruthlessness to go around.
A fair amount of time is used to build suspense and establish motivations, all going to show once again how violence for revenge sake, or any sake for that matter, perpetuates. Pay attention to where there are flashbacks or you might get lost in the details.
The fight scenes seem graphic, not because of blood and gore, so much as for the sound effects. And when the action finally begins to build, it is punctuated with plot twists that underscore the complexities involved.
While ultimately enjoyable to view, the movie is ultimately less action and more drama, and the more realistic for that reason.
