Why so much hype?

An action-packed slog

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I'm not sure what this movie was supposed to be but it came off as the wet dream of a belly dancer enthusiast with some unrealistic and confusing story thrown in. I don't know how to write 7 more lines when all that really needs to be said is that this movie sucks! I don't know how you could write a spoiler to this movie as the plot is so full of holes or any shred of believability that it is spoil proof. Actually, saying that the movie sucks is a bit of a spoiler because that is the core of the whole thing... suck-dom. It's a complete mess and awkward. Even the ending sucks big time. It was such a simplistic story that they could have wrapped it up easy but they did not. There are characters introduced and developed (Well, kinda but not really of course) and then they disappear...This movie sucks!

Bulgaria: Christian and Muslim, modern but also with horse-drawn carts, belly dancing and computers.Slater's character Robert works at the US embassy in Sofia on educational programs. He's a big tipper, and gives money and food to the unfortunate. He drinks a lot. His friend Kahn recommends therapy, but Robert would rather just avoid.He's former FBI; his wife was eastern European, but she was killed in New York. So he's staying away from New York, and being altruistic.Threads: Ashdown wants Robert to come out of retirement and hunt down some local thug. Kahn wants Robert to get on with his life. Elika wants to kill all the people who wronged her as a child. Robert works with Elika on a literacy project. Dr. Kahn treats Elika for her blackouts or syncope (wikipedia...'a transient loss of consciousness and postural tone, characterized by rapid onset, short duration, and spontaneous recovery...'). Robert starts working with Bulgarian police in Sofia, as arranged through Ashdown. Robert and one of the belly dancers become friendly.Robert and the police start with the killing of a Muslim Jihadist. Robert shows some police work. The film shows some crooked cops.Dr. Kahn gets Elika to let certain memories surface, such as her time in an insane asylum, and her recruitment and training into a group of assassins. She later visits the doctor dressed as her assassin persona. We get to see the sepia footage (again, again, again...I lost count) of her parents just before they were murdered.Kahn advises Robert to be careful, in case the belly dancer is just in love with his passport. The belly dancer dramatically drives a dagger into the seat cushion next to Robert's head, then runs off into the night. Robert follows, then catches up with her. She asks for a meeting later.Robert starts to put the pieces together. Does he ever make a difference? Sadly, no.----Scores-----Cinematography: 6/10 Tends to be dark and blurred out.Sound: 8/10 No particular problems; just a bit boring.Acting: 4/10 Veterans Slater, Sutherland, and Spall were OK, given the weak screenplay. Portnoy was amateurish. Many of the supporting players were just terrible.Screenplay: 0/10 Fails as a thriller, since suspense was not sustained. Fails as a mystery, since the main character's problems were telegraphed from the beginning. Fails as an action-adventure film, since most of the combat is sniper action, or just unbelievable. As a psychological drama, it is poorly done. The endless repeats of the childhood trauma were not good exposition; they were just irritating. The interactions of Dr. Kahn might have been much better if the actor playing the psycho were better.

OK, technically it is not rotten, just a completely amateur effort. They had some interesting camera work and Slater and Sutherland of course do respectable acting jobs, but that is IT as far as things to like. Wow, the story is just SO lame, really not sure how they got those two guys to do the movie, but I am thinking it probably included a few dollar signs. The budget listed on IMDb is $5 million, I am assuming that each guy got a LEAST a million to swallow their pride and do this pig. Where to start with the bad stuff, hmmmm. Hiring actresses to be featured belly dancers in the same bar that they go to EVERY night that are obviously NOT, including the main actress who looks more like she has Parkinsons or something. Having the same actress be 3 women (without being recognized immediately) basically by switching wigs is very "supermannish" of them. She has a raised mole over her right eyebrow, kind of gives it away. And trying to present her as this ravishing beauty is also hiLARious! The main plot point about having to put the "retired US spy" on the case to figure out why someone is killing terrorists in Bulgaria is puzzling as well. Why the hell would we care? I swear this was written by kids in 6th grade, I could go on forever about the stupidity in the script. Even the title is meant to sound enticing, but is just infantile. Save yourself the 90 minutes and do just about ANYTHING else, this thing is a LAME JOKE!

Worst movie EVER! The storyline lacks creativity and basic understanding of other cultures. The movie attempts to link the mini-stories of seemingly unrelated people to make a coherent plot. However, it fails to do so in an extravagant fashion.Much of the movie is filled with useless and unrelated garbage that has no relevance to the main plot. The main character is basically irrelevant to the entire story. So is all the bellydancing, split personalities, psychiatrists and "good guys" who give such a prolonged and awkward evil look when first introduced, that you already know they're bad.Ugh...I can't believe I wasted my bandwidth downloading this.