Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Shake Tukhmanyan, Jean-Pierre Nshanian, Jared Burke, Eric Uys, David Shumbris, Stewart Morgan, Jasper Lenz, Kobus Marx, Stephan De Abreu, Jeremy Crutchley, Ian Holm, Tanya Finch
IMDB raintg: 7.4
My rating: 7.0 [rate 7.0]
The film is clearly separated into two parts. Maybe that just seems so to me because I was adjusting to the cinema atmosphere during the first half, but that’s what I felt. The first half of the film is rather entertaining with a mild touch of nostalgie. The second half attempts to educational, and maybe it was, if I wasn’t Russian and familiar good enough with what was going on.
I didn’t like the second part much. It was too naive and cliche. And way too dramatically done for what was on the screen.
The first part was very good though. It had a somewhat new approach to the weapon dealing story, new angles, enough humor, and fast pace. I laughed several times.
Another plus to the filmmakers is that they finally managed to make those other languages sound realistic. I am not sure about Chinese and Arabic, but Russian was properly done, including all the cursing. Maybe just a little more work needed to be done on the accents, but overall very nice.
In general, I liked this film and I have no regrets of seeing it. While half of it could be better, another half compensated enough for the shortcomings.