Viewed – 08 March 2022 online rental

I can’t say I’ve ever been that taken by Gerard Butler. In fact I can barely recall the last movie I saw him in. However this thriller has had some good word of mouth so I thought I’d give it a watch. When a seasoned criminal gets himself arrested so to evade people trying to kill him … he finds himself behind bars at a local Police precinct. However a drink who gets thrown in a cell opposite soon confesses confesses he’s there to kill the criminal.

If this was the nineties, this movie would be brushed off as another Tarantino-esque thriller with snappy dialogue, fast editing and cool characters. However this isn’t the nineties and this, intriguing premise aside came across as a bit derivative. Butler’s the only recognisable face too. That being said Alexis Louder as a spunky female cop and Frank Grillo as the career crim proved decent enough.

It was a bit of a schizophrenic experience this. At times it felt like a tightly woven character piece dripping in tension. Other times it was like a music video, with cool but slightly out of place camera work, shot framing and music beats. A more grittier, realistic approach may have been better. However when the action kicked in it was rather intense and well done, borderline John Woo towards the end. So yeah kind of old fashioned, but this was still fun and had a decent enough concept to keep my attention.

Verdict: Good