Black Site

I got about half way through then turned it off. Unfortunately, it looks like Jason Clarke is following Bruce Willis and Liam Neeson's career path and starring in terrible low budget action films. This is definitely not a movie I'd recommend. 4 stars.

A generic, one-location thriller, cheap to make but difficult to excel, this has so many clichés mashed together it hurts to watch.

Twenty minutes are used to build up the big-bad in absentia. Phase two is lock-in with a psychopath, an artificially generated time constraint with no way out. This comes complete with power struggles, traitors in our midst and running around shirtless carrying a gun à la Ripley.

Michelle Monaghan is a decent actress, but Sigourney Weaver she is not, we get an abundance of doubting, shouting and pouting, running through nondescript corridors as the body count rises.

This all plays out to a heavily telegraphed ending, so obvious a blind ten-year old could see it coming. Most disturbingly, the makers naïvely included a massive hook for a sequel that nobody wants or needs.

One of those very low budget thrillers shot on dark and repetitive sets. They make a lot of these lately and a lot of them have starred Bruce Willis, but this one's a bit different. The setting is a Middle Eastern prison site, where some special ops are struggling to contain a violent escaped prisoner. Monaghan looks the part but isn't particularly impressive as the lead, although Jason Clarke is better and Jai Courtney surprisingly good too. As with usual with such films, the script is underwhelming and the story non-existent, but the various fight sequences are quite physical and have semi-decent choreography too.

I watched Black Site because of the cast (Michelle Monaghan, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke) - yes, in the end I was a little disappointed but nevertheless entertained to a certain degree too. The cast works well, the production is solid, but sadly the plot and story not: too generic the plot is and there are some really head scratching moments (like how the guards get overwhelmed by the bad guy). Anyway, you may try this one if you are interested in the cast and if you like that kind of special op movies - just don't expect too much.

A 1 star review means it is the worst movie you have ever seen and there are plenty of those to choose from but not this, so i wish reviewers would learn to review properly on here its almost as bad as the 10 star shills.

The main female character is a bit miscast to be fair but most of the action and acting is about on par with the budget.

It is not as bad as people are making out, if you like your action movies and don't mind the budget it should suffice for an average nights viewing; yes it is not going to be London Has Fallen or another blockbuster but nor does it pretend to be and should be reviewed as such.

It is not mind blowing or with massive amounts of CGI but has some decent kills and fight scenes; i particularly liked the death by oven door scene and Jason Clarke does pull off a rather menacing and deadly bad guy. It is just a shame they cast Michelle Monaghan, although she does look good for a 50 year old, she just cannot do the hard nut female lead, we needed a Ripley or Vasquez to really lift this action thriller above the mediocre!