roman8

This a treat of a movie about... well, treats, actually. A straightforward script flows lightly and easily through a lovely British country-side, with leads who are having a ball and congenial supporting actors.

Dougray Scott is perfect as a romantic leading man, his Scottish brawl adding a lot to his appeal. Claire Forlani is stunningly beautiful and warm, which is a rare combination. And Simon Callow is Simon Callow.

What more can one ask for? Some weight possibly, more drama, more poignant villains? Yes, this could be a requirement. There is not much of this here, no suspense or action or tension in this movie.

Then again: life flowing like a nice, quiet river can be lovely to watch every once in a while.

This isn't exactly a master-piece. But it's not quite the opposite, either. There is some kind of story. There are some kind of characters, among them and foremost a world-weary, disillusioned black-ops guy, portrayed by Kevin Sorbo in a most convincing manner. There even is some kind of acting by more people than just Kevin Sorbo.

None of this is really very much fleshed-out, everything is a tad disjointed and quite... trashy in terms of production value. Which I suspect pretty much hits the nail: it's yet another remake of Predator, suffering from all of the original's problems as well as lack of money.

But there sure are worse things out there to kill 82 minutes with.