Unfortunately this movie is the case of the trailer being a lot better than the movie. I was hoping for some nice revenge-movie with a kick-ass female agent. Unfortunately this movie does not really deliver on that. It is quite slow for starters. Sure, at times Mallory does kick some ass but a lot of the time is spent on flashbacks and much of these are really really slow.
The plot is a very standard and unoriginal one about agent getting double-crossed and subsequently deals out some pay-back. I have no problem with that. It is a valid setting for some nice action. The problem lies in the implementation.
The acting is never anything to write home about. You get the feeling all the characters are just reading of the script in order to get the scenes done and over with. As a consequence you never really get any attachment to neither the heroine nor the bad guys. Most of the movie I just sat and waited for the next action scene to begin. There are quite a few good names in this movie but, sadly, none of them are really allowed to “take the stage” and give any real performance.
The bottom line is a very mediocre and sometimes downright boring movie.
Been some time since I last watched this one but on a lark, decided to revisit and while not great and certainly a weaker entry amongst Soderbergh's resume, I found it entertaining enough and the raw fight scenes, with no underlying score, was unique at least and I generally enjoy Gina Carano in the lead here. **3.5/5**
