bendipa1

Awful, unrealistic crap story accompanied by terrible script and acting. Someone under the age of 20 on caffeine or something even stronger might find this 'exciting', but to me it's a wonder how so many adult American saddos (you'd have to be) think this is a good movie in any shape or form. Having been introduced early to the soon-to-be kidnapped daughter and her appalling acting, I knew this film did not augur well.

It's the old worn-out cliché of a movie that includes plenty of explosions, car chases and an acting macho-tough, anti-hero lead (Liam Neeson). It's as as predictable as night follows day. Plenty of baddies fire their automatic weapons at Neeson, but he doesn't cop a single bullet. But any shot he fires at them results in a baddie fatality.

It's all been done a million times before with leads like Stephen Seagal, Chuck Norris etc., not that they ever made much better films than this. The only 2 leads I know of who played similar anti-heroes, but actually pulled it off well were Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry) and Matt Damon (in Bourne series). With Eastwood it was always a bit tongue in cheek with his one-liners, which kept you amused.

But this film has no humour or subtlety. It's pure cartoonish. Anyone who thinks this movie is funny, should be reminded that it's supposed to be about the Eastern European sex-slave gangs, which are no laughing matter, and actually are a serious problem with us today.

I didn't actually last until the end of the movie as I got too bored with it. But I'm guessing Neeson got his daughter back unharmed, and the family all lived happily ever after. It would have to be as trite as that, wouldn't it?

The excellent Douglas Henshaw heads the cast as SIO detective John Tolin, investigating the scene of a dramatic pile-up, involving several vehicles on a major British highway.

There are a few suspicious and dark elements about one or two of the crash victims, that convinces John Tolin that further investigation into their lives is necessary, as details about them start to unravel. There's even a murder committed at the crash scene, unknowingly to the police, who never manage to stumble on to it, and even we don't learn about that particular aspect until the last episode.

Althogh this was televised about 14 years ago, it hasn't dated one bit, although some viewers might find this series a bit of a slow burner. But the natural pacing, convincing acting and the mystery surrounding one or two of the victims will leave you curious to find out more. There's also a little twist at the end as to what ultimately caused the collision in the first place.

Highly recommended.