This little bit of cinematic junk food is moderately entertaining if you're not looking to exercise any brain cells. It's about a bunch of people -- some good, some bad -- with special powers in pursuit of a suitcase that contains something that everybody wants. I could go into what the suitcase actually contains, and why it's important, and why everyone wants it, but I don't have the energy, and it doesn't matter much anyway, because the film is more interested in its style than it is in its plot, which isn't in this case a criticism.
The film reminded me of a jacked up version of one of those 1940s crime thrillers, where everyone speaks in a hard-boiled patter and what happens isn't nearly as important as how it all looks happening. So what if this film's plot seems needlessly complicated, and so what if there are way too many narrative threads that don't ever get completely developed, and so what if the whole thing is edited to within an inch of its life? It's still pretty fun if you're in the mood for it.
Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning are the nominal stars, and Djimon Hounsou makes an appearance, proving yet again that what he really needs more than anything is a better dialect coach.
The crazy color palettes and art direction in this film reminded me as I was watching it of "Lucky Number Slevin," another bit of entertaining B pulp. How funny then that I look at this film's director's (Paul McGuigan) resume only to find that it includes....you guessed it....."Lucky Number Slevin." If nothing else, his films certainly have a visual style in common.
Grade: B
