Saw 'Reprisal' because Bruce Willis has done good films and given good performances in the past, 'Die Hard' is a genre landmark and his performance is iconic in that. Have an appreciation for action and the idea for the story sounded interesting. Expectations were not high though, because Willis has been past prime for a while (several bad films and has looked tired and disengaged a lot).
'Reprisal' is not a good representation of him, as a film it is down there as one of his worst and his own performance likewise. It fails dismally in the action stakes, faring very unfavourably in relation to other films seen in the genre, and while anything involving bank heists have been predictable numerous times 'Reprisal' manages to portray it with no thrills complete with dull pacing, lots of silliness and endless predictability. Not hating it with pleasure, it's my honest opinion and my negative feelings towards it are regrettable.
The least bad thing about 'Reprisal' is Frank Grillo, the one asset of the film to show any degree of effort and engagement. Willis is used poorly, looks tired and like he didn't want to be there. Jonathan Schaech is stuck in a one-dimensional villain role that he overdoes in some places and underacts in others. Olivia Culpo is bland personified.
Visually, 'Reprisal' looks amateurish, the photography here some of the most disorganised, least stylish and self-indulgent for any film seen recently and the editing lacks cohesion. The music is too loud, should have been used far less and some of the placement is inappropriate. This is not Brian A. Miller's first film believe it or not and not his first collaboration with Willis, but somehow his direction is similar to that of an inexperienced rookie to the job.
Dialogue from the very start to the contrived climax is riddled with clichés and cheese and what little there is of the story has no surprises, fun or tension, is very pedestrian in pace and fails to make sense or have signs of maturity. It is good that it didn't take itself too seriously but 'Reprisal' goes overboard on the ridiculousness and lack of plausibility. The action is clumsily choreographed, sloppily edited and not exciting or suspenseful at all, as well as looking at least twenty years out of date. The characters are not compelling or easy to get behind. Do not expect every character in every film to be likeable when characters in numerous films purposefully aren't, but it is an issue if there are characters meant to be rootable and 'Reprisal' has that problem.
Overall, very poor. Only Grillo is halfway watchable and even he is not used that well. 1/10 Bethany Cox
'Reprisal' is not a good representation of him, as a film it is down there as one of his worst and his own performance likewise. It fails dismally in the action stakes, faring very unfavourably in relation to other films seen in the genre, and while anything involving bank heists have been predictable numerous times 'Reprisal' manages to portray it with no thrills complete with dull pacing, lots of silliness and endless predictability. Not hating it with pleasure, it's my honest opinion and my negative feelings towards it are regrettable.
The least bad thing about 'Reprisal' is Frank Grillo, the one asset of the film to show any degree of effort and engagement. Willis is used poorly, looks tired and like he didn't want to be there. Jonathan Schaech is stuck in a one-dimensional villain role that he overdoes in some places and underacts in others. Olivia Culpo is bland personified.
Visually, 'Reprisal' looks amateurish, the photography here some of the most disorganised, least stylish and self-indulgent for any film seen recently and the editing lacks cohesion. The music is too loud, should have been used far less and some of the placement is inappropriate. This is not Brian A. Miller's first film believe it or not and not his first collaboration with Willis, but somehow his direction is similar to that of an inexperienced rookie to the job.
Dialogue from the very start to the contrived climax is riddled with clichés and cheese and what little there is of the story has no surprises, fun or tension, is very pedestrian in pace and fails to make sense or have signs of maturity. It is good that it didn't take itself too seriously but 'Reprisal' goes overboard on the ridiculousness and lack of plausibility. The action is clumsily choreographed, sloppily edited and not exciting or suspenseful at all, as well as looking at least twenty years out of date. The characters are not compelling or easy to get behind. Do not expect every character in every film to be likeable when characters in numerous films purposefully aren't, but it is an issue if there are characters meant to be rootable and 'Reprisal' has that problem.
Overall, very poor. Only Grillo is halfway watchable and even he is not used that well. 1/10 Bethany Cox