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I'll admit I came into this movie with strong expectations given the strength of talent behind it, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The movie follows the hunt for a terrorist responsible for several bombings throughout Europe, with DiCaprio starring as a CIA intelligence operative, and Russell Crowe starring as his operations officer who's job is to handle the information he's given by DiCaprio. The movie manages to grip you from the very beginning, and Ridley Scott does a drat good job of setting up some very harsh and realistic action pieces. The real charm is that there's constant tension throughout the movie, and Scott manages to keep this up without having the movie descend into complete chaos and action. The actual drama of the movie is well done, and everyone manages to turn in a strong performance. I'll admit I'm a big fan of DiCaprio, however, I certainly feel this was actually more of a step back in terms of his acting rather than a step forward. By no means does he turn in a weak performance, but his actual role feels almost identical to the one he played in The Departed. Several scenes he's in feel way too similar to ones in The Departed, and his mannerisms and actions seem to invoke the same character he played previously. The other thing that surprised me with the acting in this movie is how drat good Crowe is in it. He manages to make you love him and hate him, and he easily grabs the best lines of the movie. He has a great chemistry with DiCaprio, and it's one of the first times I've seen a movie where it manages to make you completely believe in the relationship between two characters, I don't know how well the two get along in real life, but they sure as hell made their on-screen personas work well together. Outside of the two mains Mark Strong, who plays the Jordanian head of intelligence, does a brilliant job. He manages to make his character really come alive, and becomes both an intimidating figure in the movie as well as one who managed to make the audience laugh several times. There are no real big complaints you can level at the movie, I felt the girlfriend subplot of the movie probably could've used some trimming, but it certainly didn't detract from it overall. You'd be hard pressed not to be completely gripped by this movie, and I'd be willing to say it's better than Black Hawk Down or Gladiator. Rating 5/5 Evilduck fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Oct 9, 2008 |
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Oct 9, 2008 09:39
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Mark Strong was great, and for that matter, so was everyone. The effects and production were also extremely impressive. Unfortunately, the plot dragged, the characters were static, the writing was often cheesy, and it all felt a little pointless. Also, "JIHADBOY2". 3/5
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Oct 14, 2008 08:27
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Very, very middle-of-the-road, with an opportunity to be memorable if they had ended with DiCaprio being beheaded on film, rather than rescued with perfect timing. Instead it was predictable and bland. 2.5/5
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Oct 17, 2008 19:27
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