I intend to write reviews of movies where my opinion goes against the majority opinion. Unfortunately I usually see movies either in 2nd run theaters or on TV, which is okay if the movies are over a year old or classic films, but is generally too late to matter when it is new movies. But I'm putting my two cents in on this film.
This flick received generally good reviews from both the public, and critics. I'm not sure I was watching the same movie as everyone else. First, the hand-held camera gambit was annoying. I know that the thought was for it to add an artistic element, but it was just plain perturbing. It reminded me of my father taking home movies back in the day. A lot of the "action" scenes were just fast-moving, indiscernible images, as though the camera were being flipped and spun around like a football. If not for the audio I would not have had a clue as to what was going on. Also, everything was too dark, meaning that there was a need for more daylight scenes. And it looked like scenes were spliced together ad hoc. Maybe that was part of the alleged "artistry" attempt in the movie.
Some of the scenes of the evil Mexican gang were almost funny in their absurdity. There was one scene where the Mexican outlaws were riding in a van and shouting angry, obscenity-laced threats at each other in a thick Hispanic accent. I leaned over and asked my co-viewer sitting next to me what they were yelling about and she shrugged her shoulders and then whispered to me that she thought they were debating the scientific possibilities of inter-galactic travel. It was the high point of the movie.
I'm not sure how anyone could care about the two main characters. Any attempt they made to show some personal depth and heartfelt emotion came off as either false, or aggravatingly macho. Just not good. When everyone, good guys and bad guys alike, were apparently killed in one scene near the end, I felt a relief that the bewildering and/or poorly drawn characters were gone and I would soon be in my car going home.
I have seen a lot of movies in my day and this one may not be the worst, but it is probably in the bottom 20%.
