I was actually shocked at all the low ratings for this film. Clearly, most of the headliner names gives it away that it's a B film, so I wasn't expecting much going into it. I almost didn't see it due to the bad ratings, but the trailer caught my attention, and I'm glad I saw it.
Mexican director Alfonso Pineda Ulloa did a great job with this film. The screenplay by seasoned writer Paul Schrader was actually suspenseful and action packed. The story wasn't anything revolutionary to the genre, and still had the typical cliches, but certainly had its tense and unsuspecting moments, enough to keep me engaged. The score was excellent, especially for a B film. The cinematography was on point, and the landscape shots were great.
There were some great names in the casting, and most performed excellent, but I feel José María Yazpik was miscast. His low-tone whisper voice got annoying and unconvincing really quick, and that cheapened the film. His performance was good, and his action scenes decent, but his character's demeanor just wasn't convincing. There was even this scene with Neal McDonough and Yazpik in the kitchen that was just off - McDonough being too aloof and goofy, and Yazpik on the other side of the scale being way too serious. Maybe better cast direction from a more seasoned director would have fixed those type of issues. Tim Roth, Ron Perlman and Tommy Flanagan played their parts excellent and convincing.
It's actually a much better production than I expected, and certainly undeserving of anything under 5. For a B film, I surprisingly enjoyed it and recommend it, and thus it's a well deserved 7.5 rounded up to an 8/10 from me.
