- Sensibility: Like many action thrillers, this film suffers from some extreme stretches of reality and plot armor. A sequence of actions around Max during the first introduction feel
reckless and hasty, a pointless phone call, a miraculous helicopter flight, and an explosion that is harmless but has propulsion forces all make it hard to suspend disbelief.
- Cinematography: The film has great production design and particularly props which are critical to the film. Some rather poor CGI is bothersome, even after taking into account the film's age.
However, a couple of iconic sequences in the film give the film just the character that drew such a large audience and kick-started this very long running franchise.
- Energy: The film does a great job of keeping the stakes high, particularly throughout action and the Langley break-in sequence. There is a lull however in some of the transitions to new locations.
Additionaly, some unnecessary scenes between the action sequence feel long and drag the film down, particularly a magic trick around a disc.
- Narrative: The opening sequence does a good job of setting up the stakes and tone for the rest of the film, but the big reveal at the end is pretty messy and creates more questions than answers in
hindsight. The film has some big hitting moments, but the characters aren't very thoroughly designed and a forced bit of romance is off-putting and unnecessary.
- T-Points: The film received one bonus point for the iconic Langley heist sequence.
Solid action thriller over-all. I can see why this film was good enough to encourage the franchise.
Number of Watches: 1
