Liam Neeson's Mike McCann returns to action in a film that is essentially unrelated to the first film. And while it is basically another film in the Liam Neeson kicks ass series, the truth is it has enough twists that if you are forgiving, it's a really entertaining film.
In the film Mike is mourning his brother who wais killed in combat. The brother had hoped one day to climb Mount Everest, but died before that could happen. When mike finds out that his brother wanted his ashes sprinkled on the summit, he books a flight and goes. Unfortunately while on the bus to the mountain he ends up in the middle of a battle involving bunch of bad guys who want to strong arm the locals in a small town to sell out so they can build a dam. This sets in motion a long protracted battle.
Okay, let me be up front, this film has a large number of problems. The effects are uneven, the action is uneven, the basic plot is well worn, there are some clunky turns and the pacing is a tad draggy at times. I know this. I am well aware of all the film's issues.
And you know what? I enjoyed the hell out of this film.
I did, I really did.
This is the sort of film you stumble on and end up watching on a rainy Saturday night on the couch. It is also the sort of film that I would have driven all over Long Island in order to see.
There are a couple of reasons that the film works. First we like the characters. We actually like the good guys and we hate the bad guys.
The fact that we have likable characters adds to the second reason the film works, which is no one is safe. Everyone gets hurt, shot, stabbed, punched. There is a cost for eveything that happens. No one is superman, neither good huys or bad guys. Additionally Liam Neeson plays this as an older guy. He is wearing down. There is a moment toward the end where it's directly referenced.
The film also works because its setting gives us a place to set the action we haven't seen hundreds of time before. How many Katmandu action films are there? Not many.
I also love that once the film gets going things don't play out exactly precisely as we think they will. Yes there are turns that we suspect will go a certain way, but at the same time, they don't. The ending, for example is not exactly precisely what most Hollywood studios would have insisted to have happen. The ending is not a definite, but a maybe. (No I am not going to tell you)
And while there are problems some of the action, the truth is the action sequences are not the same old same old, in part because the setting, and in part because everyone ends up hurt.
I had a great deal of fun with this.
High art? Oh hell no- but one I will rewatch when I run across it.
Worth your time.
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