andletlive

This was hard to watch from the very beginning. The very first scenes do give a very good idea of the poor quality of this very improbable story done on the cheap. But that, lack of resources was hardly the problem. It's just a poorly done flic all-around.

The flic moves unnecessarily slow, with many scenes that feeling like filler, and repetitive in their intent. About 20- 30% of what is shown does not contribute to the story in any way.

The cinematography is also poor, from the low quality of the images to it's inconsistent style. Some scenes are poorly framed, others poorly focused; some are both.

The acting feels generally contrived. The worse problem here is the witting, not only the story but also the script. They are very poor, as bad as the direction. The casting is also off, with few of the actors looking the part.

But I kept feeing sorry for the actors. They are all unknowns, but some still did ok with what they were handed. But if they are any good, this was an "opportunity" to look bad -- they were handed a very hard task, impossible to do much with it.

I started watching this movie because I like most noir films, even those from almost 100 years ago under much lower technical resources and standards. Some that barely pass as ok can still be enjoyable with the interesting plots or characters; but his one simply sucks.

I first noticed this movie because of the many glowing reviews here, which are reported in aggregate in places like Amazon --but they are clearly fake, as exaggerated as some of the "acting".

Some "movie-makers" cannot or won't put in the effort to make acceptable products, but they use whatever trick to fool the public into watching their garbage. Again, I feel sorry for the actors, especially the few that did ok in their parts -- some of small ones.

This is one of the best films I've watched in a long time.

More than an action crime flic, with only a few guns and no special effects or karate kicks, or scantly-dressed models acting tough beyond belief, this is a very, very well-crafted story.

The title is deceiving -- clever, but hardly telling of the chess-level power-play, complicated by ambition, loyalty, jealousy, deception... taking place in a small shop.

A couple of characters could have been better casted, but the acting ranges from very good to great, and so is the direction.

Not perfect, but very close. The writing is intelligent, suspenseful, with unexpected turns. Too bad more money is put into lesser work.

I am glad I found it. Very enjoyable, if you chose to use your brain and not only your eyes.

A star agent, being used by a nefarious big shot in a powerful government position, slowly, very slowly realizes what's going on... blah, blah, blah...

The story could have worked well, but is so VERY poorly developed and written -- as are the characters -- that the whole thing is VERY VERY simplistic.

The direction is not much better... these is no suspense, everything is so obvious, and some dialogues are so cliché, as if from old shows where the villain is constantly describing the plot, confessing to make it easy for the audience... LOL

The visuals are fine, and the action scenes, too -- but not the things those characters would do if they had any resemblance to real life.

Liam Neeson could not save it.

PG-13; about the top intellectual level expected of the audience.