eoliveri

Laughably awful. One might think that all the big-name actors involved in this movie would at least make it believable, but they do not--this one is a stinker.

Characters either sprint around without having a good reason to know where they are going, or they stand around making constipated faces when they should be running for their lives.

Check your higher brain functions at the door if you intend to try watching this movie. Or, get a bunch of your most clever friends together and give this one the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment. That's what I was doing through the second half of this turkey.

And PLEASE don't confuse this with the excellent movie "The Day of the Jackal," a far-superior thriller from 30 years ago.

The car chases are not as exciting, there is no romance after the first 15 minutes, the plot is transparent as well as thin, and the characters are cliches. The acting is good, considering the drecky script, although sometimes, the background scenery is more interesting than what's going on in the foreground. Nevertheless, it succeeds as a summer thriller. Just don't expect the same quality as the original.

Perhaps one must already be a fan of Takeshi Kitano to like this film, since he plays a very unlikeable character in it. How unlikeable? He's a thug, a bully, a moron. He steals, he lies, he gambles with other people's money. He thinks that "little s**t" is an endearing thing to call a child. He's selfish, vindictive, and stupid. He's--oh well, you get the idea. The one good deed that he does, helping a boy find his mother, is done because the boy reminds him of himself.

Perhaps this is all to be expected from a "comedy" with a child molestation scene.