Whether it is the masterful editing or the all-around great acting, this movie is vastly underestimated. Since I have seen it several times, I am well aware that the director Josef Rusnak has left some critical loose ends, but the movie was saved by the cinematography of Wedigo Von Shultendorf and editor James Herbert, both of whom have better credits the Rusnak. There are many loose ends in the plot which lead the viewer nowhere. For example, the superintendent,inspecting a crime scene, draws our gaze by closely examining a shard of glass, but that evidence is completely irrelevant. Later, the protagonist is warned that he is walking into an ambush, walks into it anyway, for no reason.But the greatness of the movie lies, first, in the flash-forward editing style that was pioneered by Tony Scott in Man on Fire, and second, on the wonderful performances of Wesley Snipes, Eliza Bennet, and Lena Headey. This movie is a jewel in the rough.

James Dial used to be a CIA hit man but now he is living a peaceful life in rural Montana; that is until his old boss, Collins, asks him to do a job; taking out a terrorist he failed to kill in a previous operation. The target is in custody in London and Dial will only have a matter of seconds to take the shot while the man is taken into court. Inevitably things don't go according to plan; the target is taken out but as Dial leaves the scene his driver is shot and killed by the police. Injured, he manages to get to a safe house. Inevitably he has been caught on CCTV and the police are searching for him; as are his erstwhile employers… and they don't want him arrested they want him dead. In the safe house he befriends Emily, a twelve year old orphan living with her grandmother; she becomes the only person he can trust. The police officer in charge of the case catches up with Dial but is killed by Collins; now Dial is wanted for two murders and it isn't long before both the police and Collin's rogue unit are closing in on him.If it hadn't been for the bright orange box I might not have picked up this DVD; once it had got my attention I thought the cast list looked impressive so I thought I'd give it a go despite not recognising the title. It turned out to be rather fun. Wesley Snipes puts in a decent performance as Dial. Those expecting lots of martial arts and physical action from him may be a little disappointed but I thought the lack of obvious toughness made his character feel more vulnerable which suited the story of a man on the run. The supporting cast a pretty good too; Ralph Brown made a good bad guy without being over the top… he played the role as though Collins genuinely thought of himself as a patriot serving his country rather as somebody who knows they are wrong but doesn't care. Eliza Bennett was likable as Emily, Charles Dance brought some gravitas to the proceeding… despite getting killed on rather early on and Lena Headey was decent enough as the police woman who ends up leading the investigation.There are faults of course; the story is somewhat cliché for starters and there are too many implausible moments to count. We have London police officers firing fully automatic weapons in the street; Dial evades capture in a way that seems most unlikely then at the end he just leaves the country despite the fact that the police know he murdered somebody! The action is okay but not the best; I have no idea why one scene involved strobe lighting apart from perhaps the director thought it looked cool. Overall this isn't a must see film, even if you are a fan of Snipes, but it is a fun enough way to pass an hour and a half.

Wesley Snipes is James Dial, an assassin for hire, agent of the CIA and pure bad-ass special operative. During his free time Dial dons a cowboy hat and breeds horses with macho names such as Beauty.Enter agent Collins, his supervising officer. Enter a new assignment - kill a terrorist that is in UK custody. Of course the United Kingdom being an allied state is a great place for covert ops and head-shots outside of courtrooms.The assassination is a big success apart from the fact, that the escape plan blew. So Dial's partner and local liaison gets killed in action trying to escape the police, whilst Dial becomes hot property with the London coppers trying to get to him and CIA trying to dispose of him.Fortunately for Dial the safe-house is routinely visited by a teenager Emily Day (Eliza Bennett), who loves hanging out with cold-blooded killers with arrest warrants and help them escape from the evil UK law enforcement...With a script like that need I say more? On the plus side Wesley Snipes is Wesley Snipes (be that a pro or a con) and the movie is quite engaging. On the minus editing is very disjointing and has a hurl effect on the stomach.

After watching this I thought to myself, there are either too few good writers & directors or lots of producers.At any rate, this is a terrible movie. Terrible in a way that it's not fun, but rather makes you grit your teeth and quiver. Makes you shout "this is wrong" at the movie. Immersion is zero. By now most of you are probably used to the terrible errors/weirdness-es in movies that has computers hackers etc. in them. This movie is like that in every aspect. The only good thing about the movie is the little girl Emily, brilliantly played by Eliza Bennett. I hope she becomes big, and make this ..thing at least worth something.Do yourself a favor. Don't watch this. There is not even proper action in it. Total waste of time.