After the terrific APOLLO 13, I thought Ron Howard was ready to move on to even bigger things, Mel Gibson is good when he's given the chance to act, Richard Price is one of my favorite writers, Lili Taylor is one of my favorite actresses, and the trailer really rocked, so I was primed to see this. But it's somewhat disappointing. The filmmakers try to make a flawed hero, and Gibson certainly is that, not afraid to make his character unlikable, and we even get the psychology of a man used to having his way not having his way, and how he reacts to that. And most of the rest of the cast is good(with one exception I'll get to in a moment). As a fan of Taylor, I was especially pleased at how she was used. While she doesn't have a lot of dialogue, she gets to develop her character in a way her fellow villains don't because Howard has her on camera a lot, and she expresses a lot with her face.
But the other villains aren't well-developed. The one wrong performance(not bad, wrong) is by Gary Sinise; he tries, but he's just not convincing here, mostly sounding forced. And the last 15 minutes are melodramatic and unconvincing. The elements were all there, but it doesn't deliver.
But the other villains aren't well-developed. The one wrong performance(not bad, wrong) is by Gary Sinise; he tries, but he's just not convincing here, mostly sounding forced. And the last 15 minutes are melodramatic and unconvincing. The elements were all there, but it doesn't deliver.