They are a ton of comments about this movie already, but so far I don't think anyone has been able to really describe what makes it so bad - or, in some cases, so good.
What makes it good are superficial things which would interest you if you stop thinking and watch it in 5-minute intervals, or while doing something else, or with friends who are just out to have a good time. In fact, what I started doing during the action sequences was pretending I was watching someone play a rail shooter - the arcade-type games where you point a gun at the screen and shoot, and the action automatically moves alone as if you're on a train or other railed vehicle.
Just like a good rail shooter, you have lots of explosions. This has been noticed in other comments but the fact that this is the director's debut seems to suggest to me that he has, perhaps a habit of playing rail shooters and wants to re-create the feel. He probably also watched a lot of action movies and decided to copy some of their trademark moments.
Besides a lot of stuff being blown up, you get Lucy Liu and Antonio B., two of my favorite actors. They aren't bad in this movie, but this movie seems far below them. Their encounters are hampered by a contradictory plot which is so badly presented that it might have just been left out, and as characters you never really come to care about anyone because they are all just puppets hung onto the frame of this glorified rail shooter.
Not that this is showing on cable, I want to watch it again with a toy gun in my hand and pretend that I'm playing it like the rail shooter it was supposed to be. That might make it fun.
The sad thing about it is that it had potential. The basic plot features twists towards the end, strong main characters, compassion, and a child in danger... but the execution left me wondering what exactly the writers were thinking, and why on earth the director had based the film on explosions rather than sniping (as the title suggests) or that little thing we call a story. It just feels like less than a sum of its parts, no matter how you look at it.
The two main stars have both appeared in much more enjoyable films, do yourself a favor and watch them instead.
What makes it good are superficial things which would interest you if you stop thinking and watch it in 5-minute intervals, or while doing something else, or with friends who are just out to have a good time. In fact, what I started doing during the action sequences was pretending I was watching someone play a rail shooter - the arcade-type games where you point a gun at the screen and shoot, and the action automatically moves alone as if you're on a train or other railed vehicle.
Just like a good rail shooter, you have lots of explosions. This has been noticed in other comments but the fact that this is the director's debut seems to suggest to me that he has, perhaps a habit of playing rail shooters and wants to re-create the feel. He probably also watched a lot of action movies and decided to copy some of their trademark moments.
Besides a lot of stuff being blown up, you get Lucy Liu and Antonio B., two of my favorite actors. They aren't bad in this movie, but this movie seems far below them. Their encounters are hampered by a contradictory plot which is so badly presented that it might have just been left out, and as characters you never really come to care about anyone because they are all just puppets hung onto the frame of this glorified rail shooter.
Not that this is showing on cable, I want to watch it again with a toy gun in my hand and pretend that I'm playing it like the rail shooter it was supposed to be. That might make it fun.
The sad thing about it is that it had potential. The basic plot features twists towards the end, strong main characters, compassion, and a child in danger... but the execution left me wondering what exactly the writers were thinking, and why on earth the director had based the film on explosions rather than sniping (as the title suggests) or that little thing we call a story. It just feels like less than a sum of its parts, no matter how you look at it.
The two main stars have both appeared in much more enjoyable films, do yourself a favor and watch them instead.