Brian McNeal

What could have been a very good suspense thriller turned out to be a lack-luster dud...like a bomb without a fuse. The storyline might have been good but it was impossible to tell if it was a 5, 6 or 7 due to a lack of attention to detail. Instead it turned out to be a 3. The director MUST work with the sound technitions and they in turn, MUST work with the director. This movie is evidence that either the two didn't get along or one of them was absent on filming days. Most of the British actors mumbled their lines and while they are not the only actors these days who have sloppy control over their vocal skills, when you combine that with their thick Cockney, Welch, Irish and Scottish, supposed Russian/Ukrain accents, it's impossible to know what the hell they're saying. It's like trying to listen to and understand the people in the Tower of Babel. Perhaps it might be that the accents were forced and not natural as was Thomas Jane's Texas drawl also not natural. Texans say: "Bidness" not "Business" and they say "Bob War" not "Barbed Wire". "Oil" is pronounced "All" in Texas and one must use "Plars" to cut the "Bob War". What this movie probably needed most was a director like Simon Wincer (Quigley Down Under, Monte Walsh, Crossfire Trail, Crocodile Dundee, Lightning Jack). Perhaps with that caliber of director, this movie could have been much more than mediocre. The fight scenes (and there are many) are all OVERDONE. Thomas Jane takes way too many blows to be able to come out the winner each and every time. He was overmatched by size brute force and gunpower everytime but somehow we're supposed to believe that because he's the good guy, he will automatically come out on top of his opponent. John Malkovich's speech pattern sounds like he was in speech therapy after a stroke. He was completely MIS-cast in this role. He was way to soft to play the "heavy" MI-6 authority with the cliche moniker of "Control" and (small spoiler alert) he ends up wanting to give them (Ranger & British Agent) commendations after chastising their every move. There are two supposed sex scenes but absoluetly no nudity...just couples in bed doing what couples do. Neither has any purpose in the story and seems to be only a feeble attempt at coaxing an audience to continue watching when the rest of the story is dragging...like maybe they'll show something...but they don't. That's worse than gratuitous sex in movies. It's gratuitous and non-sex. The relationship between the villian and his girlfriend is not easy to digest and leaves a lot to be imagined - only attributable to bad script writing or bad editing. If you watch this for free on some streaming service (as I did) it may be worthwhile just to while away some time. But if you must pay to watch it, I'd save my money and invest it in something else. That may help soothe some disappointment. Pros: It's a Western in a day and age when good Westerns are far and few between. Cons: It's only a Western in the very beginning and then morphs into a modern day, automatic weapon shoot-em-up.

As far as Gary Marshall films goes, this has to be the one he wished he could have buried at the bottom of some crater on the moon where no one will ever see it. I read somewhere that this is the lowest budget film and the least number of shooting days for any Gary Marshall film and that he had the script for over 10 years waiting to get a studio willing to produce it. He should have kept waiting. This film never needed to be produced. Maybe with a few better actors in key parts and maybe with a different director this could have come off as a social commentary film with some depth. But this is not Gary Marshall's style. Some of his other works like "Pretty Woman," "A League of Their Own," and "Beaches" had that social commentary eliment but also the traditional Gary Marshall tension-release using a bit of comedy sprinkled in just where and exactly when it's needed. This film not only is missing that touch, it's screaming out for it. But it's never delivered. Given the script and the material were at the low end of the quality barometer, Jane Fonda did an excellent job delivering her lines with quality acting. The others seemed to just go through the motions with the exceptions of a few cameo appearances delivered by: Rance Howard (father of Ron Howard [Opie Taylor] and Clint Howard)(as the dog-bite man) as well as an excellent acting performance by songwriter/composer Paul Williams (bad debt patient at the Vet's office). Other than that, the casting was off by miles on the Pickup driver (Harlan) as well as the Mormon girls who all made extremely unbelievable performances for their respective characters. Marshall didn't get out of them what he normally does with his actors. Felicity Huffman gives a mediocre attempt at playing an alcoholic. At times she appears to be drunk beyond any personal control and in the next moment, she's delivering a line stone cold sober as if she's a lifetime member of the Teetotaler's society - completely unbelievable. And Lindsay Lohan who has the staring role in this film can't really get any credit from me since it appears as if she wasn't acting but merely just being herself - the spoiled brat child of a life she doesn't like. There's enough tension in this movie between the Mother/Grandmother (Fonda), the Mother (Huffman) and the Daughter/Granddaughter (Lohan) for three movies. But there is no comedic tension release which one would expect as soon as it is known this is a Gary Marshall film. This is a huge disappointment and gives the viewer a feeling of wasted time. I can't begin to count the number of times I wanted to dump out of this and do something else. But I stayed with it hoping Marshall would deliver...to my own chagrin. I'm embarrassed to say, I stuck it out. So here's the best kind of spoiler alert: Dump out if and when you feel like it. You won't be sorry you did.