Bubblegum Crisis (1987 - 1991)

Now I'm no anime connoisseur, but I have seen quite a few movies now (mostly bigger, well-known titles), and I have definitely come to appreciate them a whole lot more as a fully grown sensible adult (ahem). Back in the day, for me, these movies were more of a foreign oddity that I didn't really get on board with, although I did fully appreciate the animation, having grown up with some classic cartoons in that gorgeous anime style.

So enough dithering, what the heck is this all about? And what's with the typically quirky title? Well, as for the title, it refers to actual bubblegum and its elasticity. The way bubblegum can stretch and stretch, or expand, until it eventually breaks and/or pops. This is a metaphor for the breaking point of a society in crisis, hence the name. Odd metaphor if you ask me, I mean I get it but... it's still kinda random.

As for the actual feature here, this isn't a movie (I wasn't aware of this), this is actually a short series made up of eight episodes, each with its own short story. The overall arc of this series is a single continuous story, or continuity, but each episode stands alone. So there is a central plot through-line, but at the same time, each episode is its own little story. There is a chronological timeline here, with enemy-of-the-week plots. Personally, I like that, I do like 'monster-of-the-week' type series as I think it's easier to digest overall, you don't get lost, and each episode is an easier watch on its own. I hate having to do homework for a TV series or having to try and recall what has gone before.

This series doesn't really offer anything in terms of originality in our present day. The story is set in a neon-soaked futuristic Tokyo 2032 where a group of female mercs (Knight Sabers, cheesy I know) don mech-type armour suits, or a kind of superhero-esque exoskeleton, and fight crime alongside the A.D. (Advanced) Police. The crime in question mostly comes from a manufactured group of biomechanical androids that constantly go rogue. These androids (called Boomers for some reason) are made by a mega company called Genom, which manufactures them for heavy labour around the dystopian city of Mega Tokyo. But, as mentioned, these androids often go wrong, or glitch, and are often taken advantage of by criminals. Being biomechanical androids, they also tend to evolve and break their programming.

It did make me think why these androids are used so much in this world when they keep going wrong so much. They are developed to replace Human hard labour, but it seems they often go haywire, and it often leads to much destruction and death! Plus, criminals often get hold of them and use them for their own nefarious purposes. You'd think the powers that be would put a stop to it, but I guess the power and influence of Genom outweigh everything else. 

So, the plot isn't very original these days, and to be honest, it wasn't back in 1987 either. It is no surprise that this series was heavily influenced by Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner' for the most part, but also James Cameron's 'Terminator', 'Robocop', and the 1984 movie 'Streets of Fire'. You can absolutely see all this influence throughout this series from the multitude of details within Mega Tokyo, the Boomers (replicants), the way characters interact with each other etc...I should also point out the sound bites taken from (I think) Cameron's 'Aliens' here and there.

It's all very familiar, but a first for animation at the time. At the same time, you can easily see how this manga series influenced many franchises going forward, especially the mech suits. The entire notion of a team of quirky females in super-powered suits was also a bit of a groundbreaker back in the day. Whilst the background characters tend to be more typically masculine and stereotypical of the action flick genre, the female leads were quite a progressive angle that manga often embraced long before Hollywood. Although, it must be said, the women are a very standard, predictable roster. The super-rich benefactor. The rebellious singer and biker. The super-athletic aerobics instructor, and lastly, the obligatory tech expert.

As expected, the episodes do vary in quality, naturally. The plots revolve around kidnappings, rescues, assassinations, crime bosses, deception, and espionage. All typical stories you could probably have guessed would be here. Whilst all episodes are adult-oriented, some do have a more Saturday morning cartoon vibe about them. For example, one episode sees a vengeful loner mod his muscle car (or augment it with thought-controlled cybernetic hardware) to battle biker gangs, but said car eventually develops sentience. Another sees the Knight Sabers having to deal with a group of impersonators that are causing chaos, whilst another sees a vengeful (common theme) popstar arriving in Mega Tokyo, causing yet more chaos. The first three episodes are more of a trilogy that establishes this dark world and its various characters. The final episode takes a much lighter tone (especially in colour and visuals) for the most part, but then ascends with an almost 'Die Hard' type finale.

Overall, the episodes do swing wildly from being intriguing to somewhat boring, truth be told. The high-octane action interspersed throughout is what keeps them alive for the most part. With each episode being a stand-alone story, it gave the animators freedom to do their own thing. This led to some amazing sequences of mech action mostly, but add to that, lots of over-the-top gun porn, cockpit and armour sequences (think 'Iron Man' and things like 'Pacific Rim'), haunting cityscapes, and fantastic visual moments of pure speed and velocity. All this accompanied by a toe -tapping synth-rock pop soundtrack that, while good, isn't quite as good as the genuine tracks of the 80's. 'Top Gun' this is not.

This short series has me in flux. Whilst the visuals and action are second to none, for animation of its era, the plots can be flimsy and leave you guessing quite often. Admittedly much of this is due to the series being cut short (8 episodes instead of 13). Whilst some episodes had me engaged, others had me reaching for my phone. The characters are stereotypes across the board and on both sides, good and bad. Overall, the series really does borrow HEAVILY from that Ridley Scott film (Priss' band called 'The Replicants' and the fact she's called Pris). I did find this a bit distracting at times honesty, too much homaging going on.

So in short (ahem), incredibly influential, but also incredibly influenced. Back in the day, I can see how this was regarded as top-tier sci-fi and animation. Now in 2026, it's still top-tier sci-fi and animation, and it holds up! But I can also see the vast scope of other franchises that they borrowed from, and it's a tad dull for the most part, when there aren't any super-powered Iron Man suits blasting terminator-esque Boomers that is.

6/10

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

 

Interesting title. I actually thought it was a Hollywood adaptation of an anime franchise at first. Or maybe some kind of 'Kickass' type clone. Turns out it's actually a sort of 'John Wick' clone but with a quirky comicbook-esque female angle (or a sort of 'Kingsman' clone).

The plot is about as original and exciting as a vanilla milkshake frankly. Young girl Sam (Karen Gillan) is abandoned by her assassin mother when the heat is on. She is then raised by her mother's employer Nathan (Paul Giamatti), who happens to run a firm that employed her mother as an assassin. 15 years later, and Sam is now a top assassin for the firm. On her newest mission, she must take out a man who stole money from the firm. Sam accidentally kills the man who tells her of his kidnapped daughter (why he stole the money). Abandoning her original mission of returning the money, she goes off to save the child, which leads to her losing the cash. Meanwhile, Nathan and the firm have learned that Sam accidentally killed the son of a top crime ring, so they must now abandon her in order to prevent all out war.

So, this might all sound kinda intriguing, but really, it isn't. This is exactly the same kind of twisty storyline that we've all seen a gazillion times before in a gazillion similar hitman-type flicks. The whole angle of an abandoned child being raised by a secret firm to be a top assassin, has been done how many times now? The fact that she follows in her mother's footsteps, and only later on to be reunited with her mother and face all those abandonment issues...ugh!! 

I think the real issue here is the blatant 'John Wick' rip-off aspects at play. Besides all the action being a direct clone of said movie, there's a secret hidden library run by three more top-secret female assassins, which serves assassins with weaponry. Think of this as 'The Continental' of this movie basically. But what is really daft is the fact that all the weapons are hidden within actual books. So if you want a specific weapon, you gotta go find the book! So, let's say you're in a hurry for a weapon, as happens in this movie. They have to dig through all these thick, heavy books to hopefully find something of use. Whose dumb idea was this?? When the ladies are giving Sam weapons, they just pile books in her arms (LOL!). Inefficient and inconvenient much?

I'm not even sure what that library is supposed to be, an independent organisation of some kind? Yet presumably linked with all the assassins, but unknown to the big criminal gangs? And all assassins in this world seem to be females? A perfectly diverse trio in charge of the library I might add, Michelle Yeoh (as the same martial arts character she always plays), Angela Bassett (trying way too hard to be a hardass), and Carla Gugino (the typical cardigan-wearing librarian).

It's not all stupid rip-offs though. The visuals and style of the picture are a bit unique. There is definitely a strong kind of comicbook vibe going on here. Very bright colours, many shots and sets look like a panel from a comic. Plus, there is a nice 50's Americana style here and there, mostly with the diner, which seems to be a secret, secluded meeting place for assassins and criminals alike. But also with some aspects, such as Carla Gugino's character look. It almost looks a bit like Dick Tracey (1990) at times. Unfortunately, it does also look cheap with awful CGI blood and gun flares, obvious greenscreen backgrounds, and obvious sets. You can tell it's a Netflix flick.

This movie really feels like a tonal mess frankly. The action is pretty bloody throughout, yet at other times it's hilariously tepid-looking. Watching Karen Gillan try to do John Wick-esque fight sequences was a bit embarrassing. She was horribly miscast here. They tried to make her look gritty, but it just doesn't work. It's like they couldn't quite make up their minds and commit fully either way. Visually its also all over the place. Like I said, it looks at times, but poor at others. Had they stuck with the colourful 50's aesthetic, they would have had something more original and engaging.

Basically, if you take 'John Wick', 'Kingsman', 'Dick Tracey', 'Kickass', 'Everly', and a whole host of similar movies. Throw it all in a blender, add terrible CGI and terrible greenscreen, and then water it down to a sort of PG12/15 level of violence (because they clearly couldn't make their minds up on the violence levels), and you have this. A very, very, very, unoriginal feature that I kinda feel Netflix churned out merely for content purposes. Absolute content!

4/10

A Force of One (1979)

 

What is that poster supposed to be? It looks like some kind of future-set science fiction movie. The movie tagline makes you think Chuck Norris is some kind of possible space cop, or space bounty hunter maybe. And once again, the movie title doesn't really reflect the movie you're going to watch. It all looks and sounds like a future-set 'Commando' type feature.

What we end up getting is a rather drab-looking, typical 70's cop/detective crime action flick with Chuck Norris having to once again save the day cos the cops aren't up to the task. And no I'm not joking, Norris is Matt Logan, a Karate champion (ugh!) who the police hire to train a special undercover unit in combat. What is their task? Well, a drug dealer is running his drug trafficking operation out of his sports goods stores (not joking). It's up to this special unit, with Logan's help, to bust this drug-dealing operation. So, no originality whatsoever then.

In all honesty, I'm finding it increasingly hard to review Chuck's old action flicks. I use the term 'action' loosely here as most of these movies do not actually have much action. All these early movies simply feel like very limp excuses to showcase Norris in the ring fighting. There is literally nothing much else happening here at all. The movie is extremely dull for the most part with loads of dialogue or exposition sequences. There are lots of scenes with cops snooping around, discussing plans, driving around, eating and drinking etc...It's all very basic looking, unexciting, and much like any number of 70's cop shows on TV.

Every now and then we get a little snippet of fighting with Chuck or the main villain's enforcer, Jerry Sparks, who also just happens to be a martial arts expert (played by Bill Wallace). I've never seen or heard of this guy before, but, naturally, he is a real kickboxing champion (apparently one of America's first stars in the sport). This definitely clicks because the guy's acting is atrocious despite looking the part. He isn't really used that much. There are some kills by a supposed mystery killer that is obviously him, and we only get to see some good stuff right at the end when he fights Chuck. The actual main villain of this film is virtually non-existent and in no way threatening or intimidating.

Chuck does very little here, in fact, less than his previous early action movies. I can't help but feel he's desperately trying to come across as a serious actor...that can do martial arts. Visually, he looks just the same as in his previous movies, he dresses in the same way, acts the same, is always a martial arts champion etc...You don't really feel like you're getting anything new here, this movie blends in with many of his previous early movies. He merely spends most of the run time playing this morally righteous nice guy, and doing very little.

The only real action in this entire boring feature is the big martial arts fight between Chuck and Sparks at the very end, and truth be told, it's not even that great! We get a very brief martial arts fight where nothing much happens. Sparks does a runner when the cops show up, and after a brief car chase, the fight continues in a field or wherever. The movie then ends with a very familiar-looking shot that occurred in another Chuck flick.

Yeah so, this was pretty bad frankly. The poster and title are almost false advertising. The casting was reasonable, with the small unit of diverse cops being an interesting group that could have maybe led to a more interesting movie. But overall, production values are poor throughout; it's definitely a product of its time and hasn't aged well at all. Just another excuse to see Chuck Norris fight in the ring, but they don't even deliver on that.

3/10

Silent Rage (1982)

 

The title of this movie really leads you astray in my opinion. It's a good title, sounds cool, sounds like you're in for some hard-hittin' action, possibly stealth-based. What you actually get is Chuck Norris vs. Michael Myers. Yes you read that correctly, Chuck Norris goes up against Michael Myers.

Okay, so it isn't exactly Michael Myers from the 'Halloween' franchise, but let's be brutally honest here. The character that Chuck faces off against in this movie (John Kirby, played by Brian Libby), is a large, well-built, mute male who has essentially been brought back from the dead, and runs around in a light grey boiler suit. He's even invincible and keeps coming for more. The only thing missing here is a mask. 

The plot is completely the opposite of what you'd expect from a Chuck Norris movie, obviously. A mentally ill man kills his family and is taken down by the cops, led by Sheriff Stevens (Norris). Near death, he is taken to an institute (but not a hospital?) where two crazy doctors decide to save him with a special formula that one of them created. Said formula enhances cellular strength and regeneration. So they inadvertently create a Frankenstein-esque monster who goes off on a killing rampage. Did they not see this potentially happening? The man went nuts and killed his family.

What follows is your typical horror flick type scenario as the silent killer goes after Stevens and his family, anybody nearby, and finally the doctors who created him. Because of the fact he has enhanced cellular strength and regeneration, this makes him virtually unstoppable, creating many predictable sequences that we've all seen before (although, maybe not as much back in 82).

But there are so many weird choices in this movie, and so many questions. Firstly, much of the movie feels like your standard goofy buddy cop flick. Stevens has a rather tubby partner who looks and acts like a character from a Burt Reynolds Southern-set comedy movie. Then there's the bar fight with a bunch of biker thugs (best bit of action in the movie), which again feels like a completely different movie. It feels like the director and writers couldn't decide what to do.

The entire gist of this movie just feels so wrong. Having Chuck Norris essentially running around trying to tackle this Mike Myers-type guy just felt so incredibly badly thought out. People don't go see a Chuck Norris movie for horror, they see him for martial arts. Yes there is some martial arts in here, such as the bar fight, but that's pretty much it. The big finale sees Norris square off against the killer, which was decent but kinda ridiculous. The guy was invulnerable, if bullets and being injected with acid doesn't work, a few high kicks isn't gonna stop him. The ending doesn't even resolve the issue, leaving things open for a sequel! We could have actually had a Chuck Norris vs. Michael Myers franchise.

4/10

The Octagon (1980)

 

So what have we got here? Chuck Norris vs. ninjas? And with Lee Van Cleef?? Okay, I'm in.

Bare with me, but the plot for this is kinda nuts. So there's this secret ninja assassination training camp just off in the woods somewhere, like off the highway or whatever (lol!). These guys are hardcore. Once you join up, that's it, you're in till death. If you try to leave, they'll kill you, ninja style. Now these ninjas are super good at their day job, they are assassinating various people, including diplomats and whatnot. So what do you do in a situation like this? You seek help from retired Karate champion Chuck Norris, that's what.

I think the funniest thing about this movie, other than the fact that yet again this entire thing looks and feels like a TV movie, or extended episode of 'The A-Team', is the fact that there's this ninja assassin cult in the sticks that no one has ever noticed. In the middle is this large octagon-shaped arena which literally looks like a set, hence the name of the movie (dear lord). But what's also stupid is how convoluted the plot actually is. All this is, is Scott James (Norris) eventually, begrudgingly trying to infiltrate this ninja cult after he discovers his foster brother is the leader. In all honesty, Lee Van Cleef as an old friend merc, isn't required here at all. Plus, the attractive woman who tries to hire Norris (cos her father was killed by the cult), isn't really needed either. 

This is definitely one of Chuck's most padded flicks. This entire movie boils down to Norris vs. the ninja cult, that's it. The rest is utterly meaningless. The actual ninja cult isn't really very threatening because we see all the recruits in training from the get-go. So what we see are a bunch of novice ninjas that clearly aren't too sure whether they made the right decision or not. Their special assassin training seems to revolve around basic exercises and fighting each other with sticks, badly. There seems to be only one actual competent deadly ninja, and that's the main henchman/enforcer who looks way more badass than the rest. The cult leader Seikura(played by real-life martial artist Tadashi Yamashita) isn't really explained, I'm not sure what his goal was and why he's creating this ninja cult.

But yeah, nothing actually happens in this movie for the most part. It's literally just aimless padding, mundane action and pointless dialogue until the finale. Things only really get going when Norris finds the ninja camp and infiltrates it under cover of darkness. This is where the movie finally comes to life, somewhat. And frankly, that's all you want to see for the entire runtime. Yeah sure, he got help from a female ninja who managed to escape the cult, but whatever.

There is an entire dialogue sequence with Norris in a gym. There is absolutely no reason for this whatsoever; it doesn't benefit the plot or anything. It's just Norris, all sweaty, looking buff, doing some martial training in the gym. Clearly in there for Norris to look good and showcase some moves, that's literally it. But this exemplifies this entire movie really, baseless padding just for the one idea of having Norris take down a ninja fortress.

Now the big finale plays out very much like a videogame. Norris essentially has to battle his way through various different stages until he finally gets to meet the final boss, Seikura. At first he must navigate through boobytraps whilst fending off multiple lower-tier ninjas, ninja fodder. Eventually, he penetrates the main hub of the camp and starts to take down more ninja fodder. As you might expect, Chuck finally comes face-to-face with Seikura's lethal enforcer, the only competent ninja in this entire ninja organisation. Now this battle was actually pretty good, hokey as hell, you can see the kicks and punches are going nowhere near their intended targets, but fun nonetheless. Things get really serious when the Katana's are whipped out, this is virtually as good as the movie gets.

This is definitely one of the more engaging concepts for a Chuck Norris action flick, but it's still pretty poor truth be told. Everything is so corny and hokey. The action is fine, but you can see the stunt guys anticipating moves and moves not really connecting. Most of the plot is completely unimportant. Van Cleef was clearly cast just for name recognition as his character wasn't needed at all. There was no real reason for the ninja cult, and Seikura merely had a predictable feud with James from childhood. I mean, I can see how this flick may have influenced many many videogames over the years, but other than that, this movie offers very little other than a semi-decent finale. Oh, and Ernie Hudson is actually in this for about one minute.

5/10

An Eye for an Eye (1981)

 

So lets have a look at this Norris vehicle. The title is pretty straight forward and virtually tells you everything you need to know. Someone has obviously gotten killed, and Chuck is gonna deliver some meaty justice. What could go wrong?

Yes I literally just explained the plot, it's that simple. The movie starts out like a Pacino drama. Very dark, grimy, rainy and moody, good cinematography, Chuck's partner actually looks like he just stepped off the set of 'Serpico'. Heck, he even has a character name that sounds like it came from a Pacino drama. Naturally this guy is gonna get it, both barrels. But Chuck ain't gonna take that sitting down, oh hell no, he's gonna catch one bad guy and throw him out of a high-rise, public view be damned. But you guessed it, Chuck's Chief is not too pleased about that shit show, but Chuck ain't gonna let him finish his investigation, Chuck's outta there!

Sooo long story short, this is your stereotypical drug-smuggling action flick, where the good guys have gotta uncover the Kingpin and stop the operation. Of course there are henchmen, dirty cops, assassinations, gun fights, and a big showdown at the final boss's big drug-financed mansion. It felt very much like an early version of 'Beverly Hills Cop' to be honest, but not as slick.

This movie also some wild casting. Believe it or not, but the main Kingpin is played by Christopher Lee! Total miscasting if you ask me, because he essentially looks like a classic aristocratic Englishman who just stepped out of a time portal from the late Victorian, early Edwardian era. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that; that is Lee's entire persona, but it doesn't really fit in with a drug-dealing action flick set in sunny San Francisco. Toru Tanaka is one of the big bad henchmen, with a clump foot condition, oddly (making the on-foot chase sequence absolutely ridiculous). Then there's Richard Roundtree who is almost too perfect, dare I say typecast, as Chuck's police Chief. And Mako teams up with Chuck to take on the bad guys.

Naturally, you can expect lots of action...actually no, you'd be wrong. Strange as it might seem, there isn't a whole lot of action in this movie, and what there is was pretty standard guff. Every time Chuck fights bad guys, he generally does the same set of moves. I mean, in these early flicks, this was new and exciting, watching now... it's a bit dull and tepid. This movie (and most of Chuck's movies), do tend to feel a bit like slightly adult episodes of 'The A-Team' whereby, if there's a window, wall, fence, ledge, pool, cliff, door etc...then the bad guy is going over it, through it, or in it. And the problem is you can see this coming a mile away.

What you do get here, is lots of beautiful scenic shots and sequences of San Francisco in the sun. There is quite a lot of padding simply with lingering shots (as lovely as they are) of the city from various angles, and quite a few of Chuck walking and driving around from place to place looking for clues or chatting with locals (not even sure if they were paid extras).

The big finale is exciting, but let's not get too carried away. There is a big gun battle between cops and the bad guys. Chuck finally faces off against Toru Tanaka, spoiler alert, he wins. Mako kicks some bad guy butt too, and Lee tries to pull off the most polite kidnapping and escape I've ever seen in an action flick (such a bizarre casting choice). All the while, Chuck is dressed in some lovely sensible attire, making him look like a middle-aged dad from a comedy sitcom. So yeah, this is a seemingly real mixed bag of, not too subtle, ideas. As if they couldn't really decide which way they wanted to go, buddy cop action flick, or adult thriller angle. Like I said, it feels like a TV movie, an extended episode from some cop show.

4/10

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)

 

So what have we here? Another action flick where Jason Statham is a nigh-on invincible super soldier type person? Why yes it is. Funnily enough, this is now the second movie where Statham has portrayed an invincible leader of a specialised crew in an action thriller, and both failed. In 2013, Statham's vehicle 'Parker' was meant to be an action thriller franchise with multiple sequels (presumably challenging Bond and Ethan Hunt). But that movie failed. Now we have this oddly titled action espionage thriller, which was also meant to be a franchise with multiple sequels (to challenge both Bond and Ethan Hunt), and this also failed.

So what is the plot? Well, unsurprisingly its a bit like the 'Mission: Impossible' movies to be honest. Statham is Orson Fortune, an MI-6 super spy, whose mission (which he must accept) is to track down a recently stolen bit of hi-tech kit worth billions. Naturally, he has a team of highly skilled espionage experts to assist, and naturally all manner of double crosses, disguises, and ruses (title of the movie, see, you get it? Eh?) occur as they swan around the globe.

And oh boy do they swan around. This movie really is a complete clone of that certain Tom Cruise franchise. This corny team of super spies (perfectly diverse of course) darts from one lavish destination and location to another. Hardly work for the cast and crew, more like a paid luxury holiday. They drive top-of-the-line vehicles, wear made-to-measure attire, travel in private luxurious jets, and spend a surprising amount of time merely lounging around in the lap of luxury. I never quite understand these movie villains. Here, the main bad guy, Hugh Grant, is so obscenely wealthy that I can't help but wonder why he is even getting involved in all this crime. It never makes sense to me, like, how much money can one person want or even need?

Seriously, this movie takes an age to get going. Most of the movie is simply dialogue in attractive locations with perfect weather. The movie tries to be super smart and dashing with its tech and covert operations, but director Guy Ritchie forgot to include some action for the most part. Any action we do get is strangely muted or edited with cutaways. 

Yes I did mention that the director is Guy Ritchie. Now you might think this means the movie will be super cool, and it certainly tries to be, don't get me wrong, but it fails. You see, Ritchie's whole schtick of fast-talkin' cockneys, oddball characters, graphic violence, profanity mixed with cockney rhyming slang, and ice-cold villains, is a little overplayed now. Yes this movie isn't a hardcore graphic adult flick; it has more of a lighthearted comedy angle, but Ritchie is still doing the same old things. Thing is, his schtick doesn't really blend well with this uber slick espionage type affair.

The cast is also a unique selling point with Ritchie, but again, he's just trying too hard. Statham has done this same gig time and time again. The man is like the new Steven Seagal in that he just plays the same type of characters over and over. He's either a super spy, or super military guy, or super special ops guy, or super ex-whatever etc...Then you have Josh Hartnett who is clearly trying to get back in the big movie game, but he's aged badly. Cary Elwes does his usual, old-fashioned, well-spoken, out-of-time Errol Flynn persona again. There's a Black British rapper I've never heard of who you'd swear will have a dirty cockney accent, but he's actually from up north. And last but not least, Hugh Grant is cast against type as an almost nerdy-sounding arms dealer with an even nerdier name, who, in typical Ritchie fashion, is actually ruthless.

I mean, I don't wanna say this but, quite frankly, to sum up, this is essentially a 'Mission: Impossible' clone, but a poor man's version. Put simply, if you like that Tom Cruise franchise, then you will probably like this. This flick is virtually the same spiel, with a bit of 'Fast and Furious' thrown in for good measure. Everything is glossy, slick, shiny, expensive, and in some cases fake-looking. All the cast look California fabulous with tans, flashy attire, fast cars, and all in glorious sunshine glinting off their expensive shades. The plot tries to be clever but is dull and predictable, right up to the inevitable ending that leaves you expecting a sequel. Pure Hollywood nonsense with a stupid title.

5/10