At first glance, this would appear to be a half-hearted attempt at a Nicolas Cage-fueled Taken ripoff. Not to worry, that was Stolen. This one starts off in a similar way, but it attempts to bring a bit more to the story. We follow Nick as a reformed criminal who is now a legitimate businessman, husband, and father who struggles with skeletons in his closet.
Nick brings his terrible acting to the screen big time. There are times when he can seem like a good actor, and then there are times when he shows the acting talent of a 3rd grader in a school play that hasn't studied the lines at all. This was the latter. He tried to cry at one point, and it was not a pretty sight. He tried being angry, and that just devolved into a lot of yelling at full volume.
Max Ryan plays one of Nick's reliable buddies. Interestingly, he is a significantly better actor than Nick is, and that becomes apparent during a few of the scenes where he is taking his orders from Nick. Max and Michael McGrady are the complete team of guys that Nick has to work with when he wages his war against two entire crime families - which seems like a bit of a stretch. But, implausible premise is really not what will bring down this movie.
Danny Glover is in this movie to get a paycheck. He plays a cop who makes very, very, very, very bad decisions. At one point, he decides to let our hero go after he commits about 10 felonies because he is just SURE that Nick is going to change his ways. One of the officers even makes a comment that it shouldn't be happening, but he is waved off. After all, the property owners will be really happy to hear that the guy who damaged their cars, fences, etc, got to walk away because he's probably going to be a good guy from now on.
The story isn't the worst thing ever. The mood of the movie, with its dark filters and overcast skies, is more somber and serious than Nick Cage is at any point. At his daughter's funeral, cradling his friend's dead body, hitting people, shooting people, stabbing people, yelling at his wife, yelling at the bad guys, yelling at the police, yelling at his friends, and pretty much every other action is a farcical caricature of what acting should be.
Let's not even get started on his very scary hair.
Acting was torturous
Directing was bad
Story was okay
Effects were overdone
Characters were not believable
0.75/5