Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn,
Matt Nable, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Nick Tate
Written by Matt Sherring
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 116 minutes
Directed by Gary McKendry
This rubbishy actioner has nothing to do with the Sam Peckinpah movie of the mid '70s that it shares the same title with. It's a supposedly tense tale inspired by a true life account by Ranulph Fiennes. Credibility is nowhere to be found though. Especially with Statham in the lead role as a covert agent who has to rescue his mentor De Niro being held hostage by an exiled Omani despot. To accomplish this he has to target three former SAS members who had previously killed the despot's sons. He recruits Purcell and Young as accomplices in his mission but is soon tracked down by tough guy Owen, the de facto leader of the Feather Men, a secret organisation in charge of protecting the SAS men.
Cue various shootouts, car chases and fights, all adroitly edited but eliciting zero thrills. The tale traverses a selection of countries but was mainly filmed in Australia, unconvincingly doubling up for London in major sections of the story. It goes on forever and is never engaging, the dialogue ludicrously cliched and unintentionally funny, while the convoluted plot twists and turns itself into oblivion. You won't care a damn.
An hour and a quarter in at the press screening I attended and six critics had already walked out, thereby sparing themselves a further 45 minutes of kinetic and pointless action that never once proved gripping or exciting. Wise fellows indeed. In all, a truly terrible movie that puts Statham back on the dud circuit - Blitz earlier this year by contrast was well worth a look - and proves that yet again De Niro will appear in any old crap to earn a buck. Hopeless.