Directed by Pierre Morel (District 13, Taken, From Paris with Love) and starring Sean Penn (Milk, Mystic River, The Interpreter, Carlito's Way), Jasmine Trinca (Saint Laurent, Honey), Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Skyfall, Eat Pray Love), Ray Winstone (Beowulf, The Departed, Cold Mountain, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hugo) and Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Luther, Pacific Rim, Thor, Prometheus).
Action Thriller, 105 mins, 16+
John Terrier (Sean Penn) is working in the Congo for a mining company which deploys illegal measures to fuel their corporate greed. He kills a government minister who has just levied a new tax on mining and leaves the country. Eight years later he returns to work for an NGO and someone tries to kill him. That is the setting for the international hunt he then undergoes to find which of his former colleagues, or at least someone in the know, has it out for him. The trail takes him to London, Barcelona and Gibraltar, with all four locations (Congo included) offering some visual panoramic delights away from the plot and sub-plots, the latter of which involves his relationship with Annie (Jasmine Trinca), and NGO worker.
An interesting and well-directed action thriller that has more than its fair share of gun fights, knife fights and fist fights, with a positive message emanating from the outcome. The characters are developed well, with gravelly accents from many of the main actors portraying a hard-men emphasis. While London may see more of the thriller components, the action is mainly on the Iberian Peninsula.
