Antoine "Training Day" Fuqua returns to the territory that brought him acclaim. There's nothing terribly original here, but given Fuqua's forays into other genres (Tears of the Sun, King Arthur?) hardly set the world alight either critically or commercially, that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is definitely his strongest film since Training Day.
The trio of central characters are so familiar, they border on the stereotype - Richard Gere is the weary-veteran just trying to get through to retirement, Ethan Hawke is the struggling family man succumbing to temptation trying to make ends meet and Don Cheadle is deep-undercover with conflicted loyalties and wanting out. Cheadle and Hawke are excellent, Gere manages world-weary (is he acting?) but fails to convince in the character's later arc. The pleasant surprise is blast-from-the-past Wesley Snipes reminding us that with the right material, he's actually a good actor.
Fuqua handles the action well, as you might expect, and keeps all three story lines ticking over nicely, before kind of bringing them together at the end, without the reliance on coincidence that some might have relied on.
Overall - 7/10 It's not too original, but its well (if somewhat gorily done).
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