This was a waste of time for the most part. The only redeeming factor was the action, which honestly was above average. Also Banderas gives a pretty solid performance. Everything else sucked.
Screenplay and dialogue are idiotic and check every cliché. I think they were intentionally trying to imitate cheesy dialogue from the 80s, but it didn't fit with the tone of the film. Tired hurting veteran who just wants to be a normal guy while everything around him is despair and darkness. Whereas the 80s action hero is the exact opposite of this. A happy go lucky guy who kicks bad guy ass daily and it's what fulfils him as a person. He might have a few problems but he never lets it affect his flamboyance and humor. The result is something really weird that just perpetually keeps you out of place.
It's a shame really, because the premise was interesting, and they could have worked a lot more with it. The mall and all the resources it contains are barely used beyond a couple scenes. Ben Kingsley performs a ruthless villain, but he's never given the chance to shine. Everyone along the ride with Banderas could have done a better job if they were coordinated better by the director. Most egregious is that most of the bad guys aren't killed by clever traps or the unexpected tactical skills of the good guys. It's just Banderas sliding and pirhouetting around who kills most of them, and he does it so easily it's almost supernatural.
There's a lot of issues with the pacing. It's clockwork really. 5 minute build-up, 5 minutes action, 5 minutes slow exposition and here we start again. Most of the time the characters aren't doing anything. They are just sitting around not being prepared. Then just before the action starts they start running around like headless chickens. The exposition part is really lame. Most of the time they were talking I was just cringing.
All in all, it's not the worst film ever. It's a B-movie after all. But it's not a very enjoyable one. There's far better things to do with your time, than to watch this.
Screenplay and dialogue are idiotic and check every cliché. I think they were intentionally trying to imitate cheesy dialogue from the 80s, but it didn't fit with the tone of the film. Tired hurting veteran who just wants to be a normal guy while everything around him is despair and darkness. Whereas the 80s action hero is the exact opposite of this. A happy go lucky guy who kicks bad guy ass daily and it's what fulfils him as a person. He might have a few problems but he never lets it affect his flamboyance and humor. The result is something really weird that just perpetually keeps you out of place.
It's a shame really, because the premise was interesting, and they could have worked a lot more with it. The mall and all the resources it contains are barely used beyond a couple scenes. Ben Kingsley performs a ruthless villain, but he's never given the chance to shine. Everyone along the ride with Banderas could have done a better job if they were coordinated better by the director. Most egregious is that most of the bad guys aren't killed by clever traps or the unexpected tactical skills of the good guys. It's just Banderas sliding and pirhouetting around who kills most of them, and he does it so easily it's almost supernatural.
There's a lot of issues with the pacing. It's clockwork really. 5 minute build-up, 5 minutes action, 5 minutes slow exposition and here we start again. Most of the time the characters aren't doing anything. They are just sitting around not being prepared. Then just before the action starts they start running around like headless chickens. The exposition part is really lame. Most of the time they were talking I was just cringing.
All in all, it's not the worst film ever. It's a B-movie after all. But it's not a very enjoyable one. There's far better things to do with your time, than to watch this.