This film won't ever win any serious awards. It is nothing more than a short-shelf-life popcorn film and, for that, it is great. I wanted to escape for a couple of hours and have an entertaining time and, I did.
Russell Crowe sure packed the weight on recently and in this, he is nothing short of a tank and whilst he was unpredictable, menacing and definitely unhinged - I can't help but feel it made certain parts of the film laughable (Hence the 6 out of 10). For example, if a guy of this size repeatedly punches a slim build woman than I doubt very much she is going to get back up again for another barrage of punches to land on her. The way Crowe moves, the force of his punches and the added sound effects of the "impact" make it sound like it would take someone's head clean off or, at the very least, knock them out cold. But, that's a minor gripe.
Some of the scenes are pretty tense but if you know nothing about the film, I would avoid the trailers for they give way too much away.
A cross between Joyride (Paul Walker) and Falling Down (Michael Douglas), although that's almost an insult to the latter.
Yes it is paint by numbers filmmaking but if you want something well acted, enjoyable (if you like film violence) and looking to pass the time - you'll leave happy enough. You just probably won't return to watch it again any time soon.
