(minor spoilers within) The screen debut of this relatively simple concept, delayed first by a lack of notoriety on the part of its main stars, and again by the Beltway sniper shootings, probably will leave a lot of 2nd year film students wondering "Why didn't I come up with something like this?"
While the film derives the main idea of its plot from the 1996 indie film "End of the Line", Schumacher's direction (reminiscent of TV's '24', with real-time, split-screen shots, as well as numerous looks through the sniper's point of view, complete with crosshairs) gives a very entertaining cinematographical look to what is, with virtually no exception, a single-scene piece.
Farrell delivers the latest of a long line of excellent performances (along with the latest of his seemingly endless bag of accents). His performance only wavers once or twice, particularly late in the movie during a rather emotionally overdone monologue scene.
Sutherland's voiced character ends up as something of a vigilante, although his motives aren't made wholly clear as we're made to believe that he was almost justified in his actions. While this unresolved and inadequately explored "morality play" aspect of the film is what may prevent it from becoming a true classic, the film was still quite well done as a thrilling piece.
8 out of 10
While the film derives the main idea of its plot from the 1996 indie film "End of the Line", Schumacher's direction (reminiscent of TV's '24', with real-time, split-screen shots, as well as numerous looks through the sniper's point of view, complete with crosshairs) gives a very entertaining cinematographical look to what is, with virtually no exception, a single-scene piece.
Farrell delivers the latest of a long line of excellent performances (along with the latest of his seemingly endless bag of accents). His performance only wavers once or twice, particularly late in the movie during a rather emotionally overdone monologue scene.
Sutherland's voiced character ends up as something of a vigilante, although his motives aren't made wholly clear as we're made to believe that he was almost justified in his actions. While this unresolved and inadequately explored "morality play" aspect of the film is what may prevent it from becoming a true classic, the film was still quite well done as a thrilling piece.
8 out of 10