After almost 8 years it's terrific to see Mel Gibson back in front of the camera.  Yes he is a bigot, yes he is a misogynist, but goddamn is he a terrific actor!  The reason to see this film is the powerful performance by Gibson with dialog written by the writer of the Departed William Monohan.

The story is simple, Gibson's daughter is murdered and he goes after the people responsible.  the weakest part of the film is that it seemed very rushed, i guess this is based on a mini series and they tried to pack that into a 117 min film, i think there was a lot cut out for time, but Gibson holds it together perfectly, there isn't a moment when you don't believe him, he is the anchor of the film and he holds the movie down solid.

I  hope now we see a lot more of Mel, i forgot how great an actor he really is, and i think that this was the perfect movie for his return.

Good movie. Excellent performance by Mel Gibson. Surprisingly violent. I can't wait to see Mel back on the big screen. He's just such an awesome actor.

~Zack~

Mel was the best thing about the movie, but it was a good flick. As 'boy' stated, the film is anchored by Gibson. He's never going to be considered one of the very best, but he carries what very few in Hollywood store in their locker: on-screen presence. It's hard to take your eyes off him. When he says he loves his daughter, you believe him.

I do think there was a weakness in the script in that the ending was obvious.

SPOILERS (shock)

Mel had nothing to live for, and the conspiracy is never going to get out as it undermines the message the film is peddling: government, and its agencies are up to the neck in it, and the few brave enough to challenge them will perish. So, Mel's death was obvious, the ending was obvious.

Did it take enjoyment out of it? Not really. It was highly watchable in the sense that you watch it the way you watch a film on repeat - you know what's coming, but want to see it anyway.

Not as good as 'State of Play', but probably better than 'Body of Lies', in terms of similar recent offerings.

Andrew

Gotta love the Gibson, he shot a guy in the head before he could hang up . Story is nothing amazing, sorta cliche and dull, but who cares. I just wanted to see Gibson go all Braveheart on everyones asses...and he DID...but with a gun not a sword AND radioactive milk...mmmmm

This is one of those movies I didn't get to see in its theatrical run, but I was looking forward to seeing it on DVD.  So I grabbed it on Netflix on Blu Ray and here we are.

WOW, was I ever disappointed!  Absolutely terrible.  So dull, so visually underwhelming, so obvious, so cliche, so poorly conceived with plot holes big enough to drive tanks through.

Oh God, where do I begin?

OK, I'll throw out a positive...the violence...gunshots wounds, to be exact, were very well done.  That's about it on the plus side.

What I really detested about this were the never ending talking heads scenes...especially the ones in Craven's ugly little kitchen.  How many different scenes took place in that kitchen?  Damn!  Must have been at least 4 and they were all so frickin' dull and lifeless.  Many more scenes between 2 people, just talking, in a visually uninspired setting.

I think I fell asleep at least 3 times during this thing

To think they spent $80 Million on this script is just downright insulting to anyone's intelligence.  The mystery of the plot was so obvious, and so unrealistic, it's just crazy!  C'mon, guys!  WTF?

Mel was OK as he usually is. I like him as an actor and agree that he has fantastic screen presence, but no way could he save this from bombing.

So, it grossed $43 Million in NA, and another $37 Million overseas, meaning it just covered its budget in terms of gross.  I'm not at all surprised, now that I've seen it, that it had such a weak gross here.

I see that there was some talent involved here, in terms of the director and writer.  I have to imagine the only reason this was greenlit was based on Monohan's past successes.

You guys can call me crazy or say that I bash everything I see, but this is an exact example of what is wrong with the majority of scripts and movies out there...lack of entertaining visuals.  If they had just set those talking scenes somewhere more interesting, as in visually more interesting, this would have played out so much better.

I'm amazed the 3 reviews here are all rather positive.

Oh well, next up is The Wolfman, arriving tomorrow from Netflix.  I've heard lots and lots of negative comments about it, so we'll see if they're warranted or not.

For a big budget flick with the kind of talent that Mel Gibson brings, I have to say this is one of the worst movies I've seen, of its kind.

Very, very poor...

Can someone tell me how this movie ends cos I fell asleep halfway through. Fucking bore-fest. Mel's Boston accent sounded so fake it was almost laughable.

It ends just like you thought it was going to!

Corrupt politician behind it all.  Craven's daughter somehow had the ability to "know way too much info", and was trying to come clean.  She had to be silenced.

Pitiful!!!