This movie should have been tag lined, "One man against a Billion." I found this movie on Netflix and decided to watch it solely on the fact it was directed by Ridley Scott and stared Michael Douglas. I've got to admit I think Ridley Scott is one of the most overrated directors in Hollywood with about 90% of his films fading out of my mind after I get done watching them. The two major exceptions are Alien and Blade Runner but even those movies have lost a lot their muster over the years for me. I think the only thing Scott really has going for him is his visual style which only translates to about 50% of his films, even that number might be generous.
This is a typical cop solving a case in a foreign land storyline where the American cop has all the know how and gumption to catch the criminal and the local foreign cops are clueless about solving anything. The action scenes in this movie are laughable and devoid of all tension as at least 2 of them involve the use of motorcycles to heighten the tension. It must have been some kind of fade at the time it was made but now it only serves to seriously date this movie. I mean even John Woo couldn't do much with them in Mission Impossible 2 or Hard Boiled. But I will say this Michael Douglas proves what a good actor he is at about anything he touches and is believable as an action hero, I just wish he a better storyline to work with. And he's a much better action hero than these girly, man-children we have as action heroes today.
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