For a movie with gun violence as the core activity, this is a very quiet, reflective piece. It is well scripted, well directed and well acted with no filler (no witty banter, ridiculous stunts, little humor, no f/x, etc). They do a good job of -not- glorifying the fights and maintaining suspense; at no point do I want to be in the main character's shoes. Along with Freida Pinto's character, I'm rooting for him to survive and work through his hopefully fleeting passion/obsession, not win the fights. Most of the time the positions he puts himself in just look like pointless death traps that I would rather not see him walk into (contrasted with a Jason Statham or Bond movie where it's fun to see how the protagonist manages to spectacularly untangle bad situations). The final fight is perfect - two accomplished warriors meet with nowhere to go and nothing to do but everything to prove.
Kwanten did an outstanding job - his character was nothing like I've seen him do before but I doubt Eastwood in his prime could have done better. And Rourke was his character; it may not have been a creative leap for him but it served the story well which is all that matters.
The weaknesses of the movie are also it's strengths: it has a very small # of relevant cast members and a very simple (but nearly perfect) story and script. So if it's not exactly your type of movie there's not going to be much in it for you.
