Luke Wright used to be a policeman. He lost his job after testifying against
crooked cops. Now he's a cage fighter. After he accidentally wins a rigged
fight that he should have lost, the Russian mafia kills his wife as
punishment. That sounds like a typical fridging setup, but he gives up. He
wants them to kill him, but they don't. He goes to a subway and prepares to
throw himself under a train.
At that moment he sees an 11-year-old Chinese girl being chased by thugs. He
forgets his suicide plans and rushes to save her. When he leaves the subway
station, men are attempting to shoot her. While he's dealing with them the girl
runs away. He chases her and sees her being arrested by the police. He finds
this suspicious, so he shoots the police and takes her away.
Confusing? The mystery slowly unravels. The girl has the ability to memorise numbers.
A Chinese gang has entrusted her with a very long coded number (a whole page
of digits). The Russian mafia wants the number. The police don't know what's
going on, but if the Chinese and the Russians are fighting over her they know
she must be important.
As it turns out, a safe combination is hidden in the middle
of the digits. It opens the safe in an illegal gambling den in Chinatown where
$30 million is being held.
What's the point? The Chinese boss (played by the magnificent James Hong) says
that computers can be hacked, but the numbers are safe in a girl's brain. Not
really. She's the weak link. Everyone knows that she has the numbers, so
they're all trying to capture her.
For me the film's main problem isn't the dubious premise, it's the
cinematography. Jason Statham is a fantastic action hero, one of the best. He
punches and shoots his way through gangs and crooked police from beginning to
end. The problem is that the camera comes in too close, making it difficult to
see what's happening. If the cameraman had stepped back we could have seen who
he's punching and what's going on around him.
I'm always fascinated by the development of women from childhood to maturity.
This is what the actress Catherine Chan looked like in the film at
the age of 11.
This is what she looks like now, aged 21. Wow! What a beauty!
I hope we see a lot more of her in years to come.
Success Rate: - 0.6
 |
Order from Amazon.com |
| Order from Amazon.co.uk | |
| Order from Amazon.de |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tick the box "Notify me" to receive notification of replies.