Squares will be disappointed because it's not a John Wick/Taken-like revenge story told in a conventional way.
Oi govnor! 'Ow the 'ell Stamp could deliver 'is lines with a straight face is a bloody mystery innit?
I get it, the completely ridiculous, way over the top slang is supposed to illustrate how he's spent most of his life in prison but I don't think I've ever ever seen a point driven home so blatantly and repeatedly ever and that's saying something as Hollywood rarely leaves anything to chance these days.
The plot is so weak it's laughable, the music in-between actual songs is a mix between daytime drama and 70s porn and the editing, especially in the beginning, is like someone trying to illustrate how it is having epileptic seizures combined with short time memory loss.
I think you either love or hate this and I definably fell into the latter category.
I don't remember a huge amount about the plot but I do recall scenes.
It was poignant and gritty, but not great.
6.5/10
Review by PorterUkVIP 5BlockedParent2020-11-30T21:28:13Z
The first time I saw this was on late night TV a few years after it was released. It stuck in my memory although I can't say why. Terrible accents, poor acting, predictable plot and slow pacing.
Revisiting it roughly 20 years later, I am a little more forgiving because the personnel involved are more familiar to me. Soderbergh here shows little of the calibre he shows in Ocean's Eleven just 18 months later. The accent form Terence Stamp is (to a Brit) a terrible job of a posh fella doing a Cockney. Very over the top and ham-fisted.
The thought I had all the way through the rewatch was - "This is such an early run of Haywire. The edits, the plot idea, the final scene on the beach even." And what do I see afterwards, the same writer.
Where Haywire suffers from Gina Carano... Her action is good, acting mediocre and voice needed to be overdubbed entirely... This film suffers from a general overacting problem.
The old bits of what I assume are a Ken Loach film is a bonus for Soderbergh but ultimately irritating for the audience.
I would have enjoyed this more as a 1 hour TV special. Tightly edited and ramp up the action a little more. Something in this may have inspired Taken to be conceived...
5.75/10