The movie's biggest strength is the action. The scenes are intense and well-done, and Woody Harrelson's performance, though limited, is excellent
The movie has two big issues. The first, and biggest, is that the lead actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead is totally miscast. She's supposed to be this ultra-tough, cool, hardened assassin; yet her appearance and demeanor was more like some nondescript second grade school teacher. They needed an actress more like Michelle Rodriguez, Mila Jolovich, Charlize Theron, or Lucy Lawless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was just not credible at all in this role.
The other issue is that the movie borrows so much from other action / assassin movies ... There's the race-against-the-clock revenge story. The protagonist has a father-figure who raised her as a child and taught her how to be an assassin. The protagonist takes an unhumanly amount of punishment and gets covered in blood as the movie progresses. The protagonist meets a little child early-on and bonds with her throughout the film. And of course, there are many of the standard action-movie scenes where the protagonist displays superhuman ability to kill large crowds of well-armed, intimidating henchmen who are double or triple her size.
The movie takes place in Japan, which is fine. But I didn't like the rampant techno music that often came on at various points.
The movie has two big issues. The first, and biggest, is that the lead actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead is totally miscast. She's supposed to be this ultra-tough, cool, hardened assassin; yet her appearance and demeanor was more like some nondescript second grade school teacher. They needed an actress more like Michelle Rodriguez, Mila Jolovich, Charlize Theron, or Lucy Lawless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was just not credible at all in this role.
The other issue is that the movie borrows so much from other action / assassin movies ... There's the race-against-the-clock revenge story. The protagonist has a father-figure who raised her as a child and taught her how to be an assassin. The protagonist takes an unhumanly amount of punishment and gets covered in blood as the movie progresses. The protagonist meets a little child early-on and bonds with her throughout the film. And of course, there are many of the standard action-movie scenes where the protagonist displays superhuman ability to kill large crowds of well-armed, intimidating henchmen who are double or triple her size.
The movie takes place in Japan, which is fine. But I didn't like the rampant techno music that often came on at various points.