Yeah, yeah. I know. Everyone in creation loved this movie… execept me, apparently. Unfortunately, while I did have fun watching Liam Neeson kick ass for an hour and a half and it was indeed refreshing that there was no mystery to solve or twist to find, it had so many other issues that I was just totally unable to enjoy it…
So my issues….
He’s really a good guy who just loves his daughter. His very important job just kept him away. Uh-huh. Whatever. Se we get to see how great he is at his job, but we also get to see how great he is at being a father too. I realize that in comparison to a horse a karaoke machine is really not that impressive, but I felt this particular device was so, so, so over used that it just didn’t make any sense. Why could Lenore (aka Lenny) not simpy be a single parent who had no choice but to leave the man who just plain wasn’t there and whose job placed entirely too much strain on her? Did she really have to marry an obscenely rich man? There was no ransom factor in this movie – which honestly would have been more interesting – so why make him really rich?
The girls really, really, really bothered me. Maggie Grace and Katie Cassidy are actually quite good actresses and yet they were ridiculous teenagers who were so one dimensional that by the time they were kidnapped I was just so glad to be rid of them that I was kinda happy.
So much build up and in all the wrong places. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the stuff with his buddies and the pop-star he was protecting. At least I got to see that he was innately skilled without having to do a whole lot of flashbacks. But he spends so much time focusing on the fact that something’s going to go wrong (which we already know or we wouldn’t be there) and then they’re not even there an hour and something bad does happen. Shocking, right? No, contrived. They couldn’t have been there even a day? Not even to get out to the party and have a little bit of fun? Nope, that would take up entirely too much screen time that they had already used up by making him look like the world’s most shafted man.
At the end he’s still standing at the airport, alone. Yeah… this one really bothered me. Since I already had a huge isssue with the family grouping devices they were using, leaving the man who just commited a TON of crimes and killed a LOT of people, to leave him standing at LAX with nothing but his bags (certainly not his daughter) it just felt unfinished. He didn’t earn anything from his ex-wife and his daughter still loves him just as much she appeared to at the beginning, so….. the point?
I can accept that the movie was really just about kicking ass and taking names, but they packed it full of a bunch of stuff that felt like they meant it to mean something…. and it just didn’t hold my attention. It’s possible that it was built up too much for me going in, since everyone I know who saw it raved about it.
Although if I could have only watched the action parts, I would likely have been perfectly happy with it…..
Disagree with me? Agree with me? I’d love to know in the comments.
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I personally watched the film for the action scenes and Liam Neeson was physically convincing while performing them. However, let’s face it: one must not expect the script to be brilliant. In fact, as you pointed it out, the film is formulaic in that the characters give you the feeling that they’re coming from other mediocre action (or any other genre) films. All in all, it was a very one-dimensional film.
.-= Anh Khoi Do´s last blog post ..TV: Thoughts On ‘Battle of the Blades’ =-.
Yay! At least there’s one person who mostly agrees with me. You see, everyone of my friends who’s seen this movie says it’s all kindsa brilliant and that they couldn’t have asked for better…. I say… maybe not. Thanks Anh Khoi.
I didn’t love it either. I thought Liam Neeson was phenomenal and that really made the film but I could have done without the setting and seeing all the women in distress. That was brutal.
.-= Shannon the Movie Moxie´s last blog post ..New Moon Mondays: Small Screen News Galore =-.
“In a world where only one man can have normal relationships, get the shaft from everyone around him, singlehandedly save the world and still get the shaft, Liam Neeson will still be awesome.”
Is that what I’m getting from this? I’m so (SO) glad I wasn’t the only one.
Liam Neeson was great and very convincing in action scenes. But the daughter was especially annoying and the story seen it a thousand times, I liked it just for Neeson’s bad ass character.