October 6, 2011 -- This shoot-em-up mercenary revenge film is a standard action film with a whole lot of subplots. The main story concerns a former mercenary, Danny (Jason Statham of “The Bank Job”) who is forced into “one last job” to save the life of an old buddy. His friend, Hunter (Robert DeNiro of “Ronin”) is being held for ransom in the Middle East by a rich guy who wants revenge for the murder of his three sons. While the basic plot is fairly straightforward, complications arise when the bad guys target Danny's girlfriend, Anne (Yvonne Strahovski of “I Love You Too”) and large sums of money are involved. There is also the matter of the wrath of former elite soldier Spike (Clive Owen of “Children of Men”) who is a friend of the men that Danny has been sent to kill.

The movie is set in the 1980s, a time of chaos and economic upheaval (like now, get it?). But it doesn't really look like a 1980s type film. It has a more modern style than that. The story comes off like a bunch of capers because Danny must not only kill the killers of the sons of an Arab sheik, he must record their confessions on film. He also has to make these murders look like accidental deaths. All this has something vaguely to do with helping the sheik's lone remaining son to return to his homeland. Yet another complication is that Danny has to find out who his targets are. The sheik doesn't know exactly who killed his three sons, he just knows they belonged to an elite British special forces unit. Spike is a former member of the special forces himself, who is now working for a secret society of powerful, evil men. Another complication arises when he discovers a devious business agent he has been dealing with (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje of “The Bourne Identity”) has betrayed him and endangered his girlfriend. Too many subplots here, right? According to the movie's credits. This is based on a true story. I would bet that if it is based on a true story, it is very loosely based on it.

Of course Danny can't do all this by himself. He gets some old friends from his mercenary days to help with the offer of a big cash reward from the sheik, Davies (Dominic Purcell of the TV series “Prison Break”) and the calculating assassin Meier (Aden Young of “The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course”). The film works well enough, despite the twisted plot, because of some nice performances by a talented cast and some well-staged action scenes. The action isn't fancy, just fist fights, gun fights, car chases and capers. Nothing is too far over the top. It is fairly realistic action. Almost all the action takes place in European and Middle Eastern locations as well as in Australia. Most of the filming locations were in Australia, which probably doubled for the Middle East, along with Jordan. Some scenes were shot in Wales. This is an American style film with a European flavor. Most of the actors are not Americans. This film rates a C+.

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