It’s action all the way

That Hollywood should have drawn from a Korean film speaks well of the Orient. But may be director Spike Lee has picked the wrong subject.

It is alien to him and resorts to grey areas when in doubt and quite annoyingly. It all begins with our hero Joe Ducett (Josh Brolin) negotiating a deal with his client and neglecting his daughter’s birthday and earning the chagrin of his wife. Next we know that his wife is raped and murdered and his daughter given up for adoption.

But Joe is framed for the murder. What follows are the grey areas. How could he be put away in captivity for 20 long years without explanation? Here director Lee flashes back and forth in time and space with the prisoner at times bearded at others clean shaven till at last he is left in a box in a field with money and a cell phone.

The jail warden (Samuel L Jackson) speaks little and is supposed to be in the dark of his earlier life. It is the stranger (Sharito Copely), a weird one with an incestuous background, who calls the shots that Joe then uses his physicals kills to beat up a host of opponents. It contributes to excessive and heedless violence.

Joe vows to wreak revenge but for that he has to look for his nemesis and this includes meeting an old school teacher who provides a clue. Meanwhile he meets Marie Sebastian (Elizabeth Olsen), a nurse who provides him with his most fulfilling moments but then again, then comes the proverbial slip.

The climax is rather far-fetched but seems convenient but detracts much from the overall effect. Josh Brolin does a good job as usual and is ably supported by Elizabeth Olsen who is pleasing to the eye but also has the talent to go with it. Sharito Copely is adequate and Samuel L Jackson unrecognizable with a new hair style. See it at your own risk.