newfiesailor

Watching the first 15 minutes of this movie gave me that uh-oh feeling of: I just paid money for this. Seemed pretty cheesy and too sweet and cliché as we are introduced to the family. Acting wasn't too hot by Bacon either as Kelly Preston upstages him in every scene. Kind of knowing what was coming allowed me to bear through it.

When it got going though, the movie started rolling pretty good. Lots of no holds barred fights with blood and bone, gunshot blasts and vicious stabbings. Great scene in the underground garage that was the highlight of the film. Hard to believe undernourished Bacon could portray a man on the warpath well, but he dished it out pretty good. I was actually kind of shocked in some of the scenes with the pure nastiness, but it is a vigilante movie.

This movie borrows a lot of material from other sources: Dirty Harry, Max Payne, Death Wish and some scenes straight out of Taxi Driver. But it worked. If you are into ultra violent flicks with weak plot line, little emotion and brain splattering gore, then this is your end of the summer Christmas gift. Pretty good for what it is.

A movie based on the romance of the President and a quirky lobbyist. Some good scenes, clustered near the start, notably the dinner and the first phone call the President makes to Annette Benning's apartment. The movie is fresh at this point and Michael Douglas is cool in his role; Benning, equally charming. Martin Sheen shines in his role as the Chief of Staff and I think is the actor who steals the show. It's no wonder when the West Wing came calling, who was getting the lead role.

But this movie gets wearily cute after an hour and falls into cliché in the last half. There is no real chemistry or energy between the two lead actors despite their fine performances and they fall flat. No really emotional scenes and the movie plays it too cool. No charisma.

So as a whole, I can recommend this movie because of some good scenes and it's style: just expect whipped cream instead of meat and potatoes.