nazgulero_0

The biggest flaw of this movie is not the horrendous acting, or the ridiculous British (or is it Scottish) accent (there is a reason why movies where the actors speak English with a heavy British accent will never be successful), but the complete lack of one of the most basic skills of movie making: continuity. I have never seen so many continuity errors in one movie. Just a few examples: in one scene, they show an air pipe sticking out of the ground. In the next shot, the air pipe looks totally different. In one shot, the main character is running through the forest while being shot at by snipers. In the next shot, she falls into the water after being shot (or not, she has no apparent injury), but she is on a rock very close to the water. Her mate dies after taking a fall of several hundred feet, but his body is not the least bit smashed, just a bit of blood running down his cheek. It just goes on and on. Nothing makes any sense. A guy working at the video store recommended this movie to me. For sure I am never going to listen to HIM again.

This movie is so bad, I don't even know where to start. None of it makes any sense. Many basic movie making mistakes make it look like it is done by an amateur film crew. A guy waving a burning US flag, and it is more than obvious that it is CGI burn. An Iranian woman running towards the camera and looking directly into the camera, not even angry, but clearly having fun. In the next shot, from the side, she is gone. That is basic continuity. The head of security for the US embassy out of the blue decides to open the door to 'reason with these people', only to be taken hostage within 5 microseconds. That is beyond stupid. The entire film crew plot never makes any sense and is never put to work, as everything comes down to a security guard at the airport by accident reading about the filming of the movie. Right. What are the chances of him having a magazine on his table, and accidentally stumbling upon just that article ? The guard then calls the office in LA, which had already been shut down, but Goodman and Arkin for some inexplicable reason HAVE to go there in a hurry, even at the expense of ruining the shooting for another movie. What do they want in that office, and why the hurry ? The final car chase at the airport is the low point. There is no way an open jeep can keep up with a commercial airliner at full takeoff speed. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Just another Ben Affleck ego trip, as we are treated to many, many closeups of his face.

I think the main problem here is the directing. The director does not have a lot of experience or talent, and it shows in the movie. The 'making of' segments of this movie, and accounts from the actors, paint a picture of a director who pretty much goes berserk the entire time, and has a directing style that consists mainly of yelling and screaming. The result is that all creative input from a talented cast is killed off right away. It is kind of similar to dominant, loud, and demanding parents, which inevitably produce shy and beaten down kids. Bringing out the best in your actors requires a certain amount of trust. If you ever had a boss who is not in control, and hence wants to control each and every second of your life, you know what the result is. The movie quickly becomes a drag, and I had several instances where I just wanted to walk out. I stayed because of Doutzen Kroes...the question is only: what the heck was she doing in that movie ?