Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Deniro and Travolta, one on one, mano a mano, legend against legend...yeah, right.

Movies like this always amaze me.  I just don't understand what peeps are thinking when they greenlight such "stuff".  Absolutely crazy.

I can't find any info on what the budget was, but it wasn't much, relatively speaking, that is.  Let's guess $5 Million - $10 Million.  Can we call this a disaster with a Domestic gross of $40,000?   Uhhhh...yeah...I think we can.

Written by Evan Daugherty, of the big budget 2012 Snow White and the Huntsman "fame" from his 2008 script, and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who's written and directed several big budget features.  What could possibly go so wrong?

Well...I think the answer is both hard to understand, yet easy to see in the finished work.  It's just not a good idea, and IMO, not a concept that would ever work, other than on a low budget, no star power DTV for gore/torture loving young males.  Problem is Deniro and Travolta don't really coincide with that kind of audience.

Some of this works. Some of the action is cool and well done.  Some of the scenery is beautiful.  Some of the themes hit home.  Some of the dialogue exahnges are handled well.  Overall, though, it's a disaster that few will enjoy.

This thing is dark...both literally and figuratively.  Shocking acts of violence and torture that go so far over the top, it almost comes off as black comedy...but it's definitely not intended to.  The actions of our 2 characters go from insane to plain old stupid.  And the real issue here is that most of it is obviously here to keep the movie playing long after it would have ended, if this were real life.

Deniro's too old for this kind of action/fighting to the death stuff. It just doesn't seem remotely plausible.  The torture scenes are just out of place and so unnecessary.  The gore too shocking to be taken seriously.

2 thumbs up for Deniro and Travolta drinking an entire liter bottle of Jagermeister together.

2 thumbs up for making Travolta look and even sound like a Serbian.

2 thumbs down for Travolta's ridiculous looking Abe Lincoln beard.

2 thumbs down for the plodding, tedious action that just keeps going back and forth like a Wylie Coyote vs. Road Runner death match.

But, you know what?  This thing ended on a very positive strong note for me and because of that, I have to view it as a real missed opportunity, based on some foolish decisions, both script-wise and production-wise.

You can see much worse but these 2 can do and deserve so much better.