The good: excellent direction by a director who has proven that he can create excellent hardhitting dramas (Meadowland). But now he has made a suspensefull (dramatic) thriller, with true to life characters I can believe in. I need believable characters to really get into a movie, any movie. And this movie has got just that. Great!

More good: Great actors. Really great. Jude Law and Blake Lively are top of the bill. Excellent acting performances, really good! What more could I wish for? A believable story is what I need as well. The story did sound a bit ridiculous when I read it. Even when I saw the trailer I did think "naah, too unlikely", BUT when watching this movie, I had no problems anymore with the credibility.

The photography and soundtrack (Hans Zimmer) are gorgeous, those are 2 things I really appreciate and those technical qualities are a sign a lot of attention for detail went into this movie.

Any bad? Well if you dont like female empowered characters, this movie might not be for you. Lately several good (and many mediocre) female empowered action movies have been released. This one is definitely one of the best.

BEWARE, this movie has got quite a grungy, bleak look and feel. It's gritty. Dark. Even somewhat depressing. The leading character is a down and out prostitute, totally wasted mentally, excellently played by Blake Lively. Some might not like this gritty, bleak feel.

Mind you, this is NOT a regular nonstop action movie, although it is wrongly presented that way in the trailer, but it isnt. What I mean to say is that this is firstmost a character driven suspenseful movie and not an action movie, although there are a few terrific action scenes that are of the same high quality as in The Bourne series with Matt Damon. There is much more suspense and drama in this movie though than there is action, just so you know what to expect....

I dont understand why this movie has skipped beneath the radar and hasnt gotten a higher rating. It is definitely worth a try IF you are into bleak CHARACTER driven suspenseful movies.

The story: the parents of Blake Lively get killed in a plane accident. Later she finds out the plane accident was an attack and she think she knows who did it. REVENGE! Will she find her parent's killers? Or will she die trying?

As this thriller opens we see a woman enter a building and point a pistol at an unsuspecting man... the action then jumps back eight months. The woman, Stephanie Patrick, is working as a prostitute in London. She is approached by a reporter who tells her that the death of her parents in a plane crash three years previously was no accident. It was brought down by a bomb and he knows who made it; that person is in London. She buys a gun, intending to kill the bomber but can't go through with it. When she returns to the report's flat she finds him dead. Her only lead is the reporter's ex-MI-6 contact. She tracks him down in the Highlands and he eventually agrees to train her... taking the identity of a dead assassin she starts to hunt those behind the bombing. It won't be easy though; unlike her targets she isn't a natural killer.

I thought this was a decent addition to the revenge thriller genre. The early scenes quickly introduce us to the character of Stephanie and her motives. The scenes of her training in Scotland are solid enough but do go on a bit longer than really necessary, slowing the film down somewhat. Once she has started going after her targets things improve markedly. There is plenty of tension and a feeling that she is in real danger. It helps that, far from being an unstoppable professional, she is a barely competent amateur who is merely good enough and gets lucky. Blake Lively does a really solid job as Stephanie and Jude Law is good as the man she goes to for help; the rest of the cast are fairly impressive too. The film looks great with plenty of interesting locations. Overall I'd not say this was a must see but I did enjoy it so would recommend it to fans of the genre.

Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) is working as a prostitute when she is contacted by an investigative journalist (Raza Jaffrey). Her family had all perished in a plane explosion caused by a terrorist being protected. Through a series of events, Stephanie assumes an identity and become a trained assassin going after the terrorist group. She is not Uma Thuman good and not the best and brightest assassin out there.

I was pretty bored with the film. Perhaps I am spoiled by the mega-million features with black Jaguars and Audi car chases and rooftop jumping. This film didn't make it.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.