It sums up the movie.

That particular character is what the movie ultimately turned into. A bloated, dull and brooding mess, excused by a final plot twist that basically negates the entire movie, making you feel even more like you've waisted your time because it was all for nothing. Kind of the classic ending where the characters just wakes up in his bed and the credit roll, except this time it's not cute but overdone like the dream ending, it's just trite and offensive.

Let me tell you, no one in their right mind would conduct an "investigation" this way : Call up your friends and shoot up the town. A ridiculous method which leaves our friend to spend an alarming amount of time screaming at dead people's face for clues about the whereabouts of his daughter's killers. Not very effective for a once feared crook who retired. It feels more like a hot headed rookie trying to impress a mob boss by blowing up everything in sight and then trying to beat answers out of corpses.

And the always calm, coffee sipping policeman to walk on screen and tell our friend to "stop killing people because I'm gonna have to eventually arrest you." And walks out.

Another crucial moment here, get this : They call their friend all like "It's going down so get ready for some wild stuff" so he's like "Alright guys, let me break out my brass knuckles" and then he walks to the side of the street and punches air with his brass knuckles as if he is practicing breaking jaws while waiting for his friends to pick him up. This is a 70's comedy slapstick moment amidst a criminally dulled out rethink of taken.

This moment is when I realized that this character punching around to look tough, is the movie. The movie walks out with brass knuckles and starts punching around while waiting for the script to kick in, and when it does it's so flat that the movie stops caring, indulges in strippers and is ultimately killed by Nick Cage. This character is the movie, metaphorically.

I think that's what the movie was about, it's genius.

I had just seen 3 Days to Kill and I said I would just watch another action film. I have expected something like it, or like Taken or some other typical revenge emotional catharsis thing. Tokarev is not that, though. It is filled with action, but the moral of the story is completely different, it is about actions having consequences, real ones, for everything that is done.

I understand why some reviewers didn't like it. They had expected something else and, filled with anticipation of the righteous release of anger and violence, were let down by the ending. Like having to stop right before sexual release. But that is the value and power of the film. Do watch it. It is deeper than one might think.

"No child should have to pay for their father's sins." Paul Maguire (Cage) lived a life of crime and violence but has since reformed and is straight. He is doing everything he can to make a life free of violence and his past and just raise his daughter the right way. One night when he is out he is told that there was a break-in in his house and his daughter was taken. The police begin to investigate but to Paul they aren't doing enough, so he takes it upon himself to find who did this and make them pay. It's no surprise by now that you know how I feel about Nicolas Cage. I do have to say though that this is one of the better ones he has come out with lately (for me at least). I'm not exactly sure why I think this was a good one because the movie was a little generic and the idea has been redone a million times. There are some twists in this to make it seem fresh and they do work but again this is nothing all that original. It could be because of my dislike for Cage and my very low expectations for this but it was better then I expected it to be. The fact that it's so overdone makes it hard to review but I will say that if you are a fan of Nicolas Cage you will probably enjoy this more then me. Overall, generic but had a few twists to keep it interesting enough to keep you watching. I give this a B-.