Wow. This movie is quite simply entertainment and adrenaline personified.
I can't think of a single film that's packed with more jaw dropping stunts, setpieces, and dialogue that's as cool as it is hilarious. Musically it has the best combination of songs and score since The Devil's Rejects.
Terrific performances from the big three cast members that actually sell lines that wouldn't have worked with other actors delivering them, Owen is now up there with the McClane and RAMBO of the 80s as one of the greatest movie bad-asses to ever live, easily one of the best sleezy villain performances I've ever seen from Giamatti who gives facial expressions that are as unique and sytlish as the dialogue, Monica plays the role with just the right blend of fragility and toughness, especially good in a scene where she has to convey her fear as Giamatti tortures and interrogates her, and a heartfelt scene between her and Owen that got me genuinally invested in how things turned out for them.
This is the best of every one man army movie ever made from the Stallone, to Willis, to Bronson...blended to perfection with the so over the top that you can't take your eyes off the screen escapist adventure of Sin City, Grindhouse and Kill Bill, but executed in a way that it makes it all its own.
This is the most original, unique cinematic experience of the year by a longshot, and if not for Pan's Labyrinth, it'd be the best film I've seen all year.
In a year loaded with great action films from 300, to Death Sentence, to Live Free or Die Hard, to Hot Fuzz...this blows the doors off of all of them and stands ahead of the pack as the definitive action film of the year, and rivals the classics as one of the greatest ever.
I'm hard pressed to think of a handful of films that gave me a better theatrical experience than this one. It's definitely Clive and Giammitti's best film, and it's Monica's best American film.
I already had obscenely high expectations, and this blew them away.