My first thoughts were: Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman wouldn’t both make poor movie choices would they?

After the first 5 minutes of the film I had realized that I was trapped. I was stuck in a watching a movie that was going to be garbage. I’m not really a film snob, but sometimes I can be. Of course I have the ability to turn off the snob factor and enjoy a movie for what it is. Just entertainment.

So I decided to put away the fact that James McAvoys attempt at an american accent made it seem like he was a bad actor, and also the fact that the character of Welsey Gibson seemed to change his personality at the drop of a hat.

So again, step 1: Enjoy it as an action movie.

As soon as Angeline showed up on screen it was a bit of a relief. Ok someone is here to save this film. And for the next 10 minutes of action she did. I thought alright I came for an action movie and this is what I am getting.

And then the action went away and I was left with story. And I kept swearing to myself that I had heard this story before. So I just sat there waiting for the next action scene, which sadly came near the end of the movie.

I normally love bloody gory violence. I’m talking Scorsese style point blank bullets through the brain kind of violence. And this movie had that. But something about it was just off. I still do not know what it was, but I just did not enjoy the slow motion bullets through the head. And they used the slow motion ‘Matrix bullet time’ effect way too much.

The familiar story line still bugged me…until I actually figured out where they had ripped the story of from. For the average person it would be hard to notice the similarity, but as a super dork I saw it. I think as I spell it out here it will be obvious:

[spoiler alert]
1. Main character has no real family.
2. Main character meets someone who tells them that some evil person/organization has killed the father they never knew.
3. Main character has some special ability that is rarely found in people.
4. Main character must train and properly harness this power prior to confronting ‘this evil’ that has killed his father.
5. Main character realizes that the ‘evil’ entity/organization is actually his father.

Start guessing kids…