| Nicolas Cage | Yuri Orlov |
| Bridget Moynahan | Ava Fontaine |
| Jared Leto | Vitaly Orlov |
| Shake Tukhmanyan | Irina Orlov (as Shake Toukhmanian) |
| Jean-Pierre Nshanian | Anatoly Orlov |
| Ethan Hawke | Jack Valentine |
Plot Outline: An arms dealer (Cage) confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an Interpol agent (Hawke).I was looking forward to this movie as its title gave me the illusion of illustrious gun battle and chaotic mayhem running rampant through the movie. While the movie had quite a bit of gun-play and the locations were exotic, I found myself waiting the entire two hours for "it" to happen. Whether "it" be a over-dramatic gun fight between the main character and one of his nemesis or the main characters eventual slip up, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for "it". In the end, "it" never came.
That doesn't mean the movie was bad though. My interest was held throughout the entire length of the movie. Seeing Yuri Olav (Nicholas Cage) act quickly on his feet and get out of some hairy situations with some less than honest men was actually quite entertaining. I did see a good deal of similarity between the way Cage portrayed Olav and Cage's character from Gone In 60 Seconds. I'm not sure if it was intentional or just due to Cage being Cage, but the sometimes quirky mannerisms and manners of speech made the comparison quite obvious to me.
Ava Fontaine (Bridget Moynahan) was a secondary character throughout most of the movie, only being used to flesh out the human element in Olav. Her role does become more important towards the end however. Personally, I found Moynahan's acting uninspired and lacking. She didn't seem to really feel the role.
Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke), while not a major character, lent to the credibility of the story. Having the noble good-doer chasing the evil wrong-doer made the movie more interesting, moreso because Valentine is a by-the-book lawman and Olav is anything but by-the-book. Seeing them interact and dealing with the intracacies of the law was quite amusing.
Overall, I found myself entertained and amused. The plot, for the most part, was realistic (despite the authors large lack of knowledge on gun-running) and seemed authentic. All that being said, I was much happier watching in the confines of my living than paying an exhorbanent fee to watch it in the theatres.
Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment