As the movie starts we get the hint that the effects of the movie are going to be spectacular as the first scene shows Mr. X jumping across one building to another and shooting at assassins on the other side, hired to kill him. It is shown in slow motion as he is reaching the other side and shooting at them with the two guns in his hand. The effects are really astonishing and very difficult to make.
Just after that there is the scene of the bullet passing through his head which is in slow motion and the effects make it look very life like. The bullet is shot from nearly a mile away, using a special rifle and the path of the bullet is shown through the special effects.
As Wes, the leading character of the film goes to a shop one day; he meets Fox, a member of the Fraternity who has come to recruit him. She says that his father was killed and that his murderer, Cross, is in the same store. So saying, she shoots at a person standing behind Wesley. Then there is a shower of bullets and the two fire at each other with various sub-machine guns. The effects used make the scene very thrilling to watch. Then, Fox tries to escape in her red Porsche, where the role of the directors also comes into play. Wesley is with her and they try to lose Cross, who chases them in a truck. She tells Wesley to drive the car and she and starts firing bullets at Cross. It is a spectacular scene and her car becomes a wreck. The direction and effects are breath taking and watching Cross chase them through the streets of Chicago is eye catching. One of the most stunning scenes also takes place as Fox launches the Porsche a whole 350 feet over the police vans waiting to catch them. The Porsche then lands on a bus and they make a remarkable getaway.
Fox brings Wesley to the headquarters of The Fraternity. The leader, Sloan invites Wesley to follow in his father's footsteps as an assassin. Wesley does not believe that he has supernatural powers and to show him what he is capable of, Gunsmith holds a gun to Wesley's head and asks him shoot the wings off some flies. Wesley has a panic attack and fires at the flies. The bullets are shown to strike off only the wings of the flies and the director’s role in the movie is again shown.
As the movie proceeds, Wes is shown hitting his friend with his keyboard and we can see his tooth flying out of his bloody mouth, along with several keys of the keyboard. He is then taken to the Fraternity’s headquarters where he is taught how to use various guns and control his blood stream. Several scenes are breath taking such as Fox and Wesley jumping off a building onto a running train. The direction of the movie is brilliant as they are shown to be running on top of the moving train. There are scenes where Wesley has to learn to take a beating and is tied to a chair and punched in the face several times, until he is knocked out. He is punched with metal knuckles and his face is covered with bruises. He is trained how to use knives and once a knife is shown going through his hand into the table. The direction of the movie is at its very best when Wesley is taught how to curve bullets.
When he is given his first kill order, he has to kill a man called Robert Dean Dardene. The effects make the scene look very life like. He and Fox are standing on the top of the moving train and he fires at Dardene through a window. The bullet curves around one of his associates and strikes him at his chest. Another of his assassins is shown, driving in a stretch limousine. Wesley comes in a car and fires at him but the windows are bullet proof. Fox comes in a Porsche riding at a high speed and flips Wesley’s car over. He shoots at his target through the sunroof and lands back on the road completing an incredible stunt which was made possible only by the brilliant direction. The effects make it seem as if the car has really flipped a whole three sixty degrees before landing on the ground.
Another amazing seen which comes later on in the movie is the battle in the train between Cross and Wesley. They engage in a spectacular shoot out and fire numerous bullets at each other. Since Fox misses the train she steals a car and crashes it into the train, eventually causing the train to derail when it reaches a bridge over a deep ravine. The brilliant direction again makes our heart skip a beat as half the train falls into the ravine. Wesley slides down and is about to fall into the ravine where Cross catches him mid air. Wesley shoots at him and Cross collapses but also pulls him back into the train. Wesley learns that Cross was his real father and when Fox is about to shoot him too, he jumps into the ravine below and everything blacks out.
He wakes up at his father’s house where he reads all his father’s plans and vows on killing Sloan. He lures rats with chocolate sauce, traps them, and straps them with detonators. Wesley then attacks the Fraternity with a truck filled with rats. He releases them and detonates them as a distraction, blowing up most of the textile mill. He then jumps inside, firing and killing almost each and every Fraternity member and shoots one of them through the eye. The effects are really good as he shoots one of them through the eye and then uses his body to shield him from the various bullets being shot at him.
The best scene of the movie is then shown, when Fox curves a bullet around the room, killing all the fraternity members including her, so saving Wesley. He searches for Sloan, who has escaped. Wesley who has become penniless once again, does not know what to do now. Now Wesley provides a voice over and a young man is seen sitting in front of a computer much like Gibson did at the beginning of the film. Sloan comes into the scene and points a gun at back of the his head. The man turns around and it is revealed that he is a decoy. He looks down at the carpet and Sloan finds himself standing over an X marked with post its. A bullet pierces through his head and the effects play their final role in the movie as the bullets path is shown entering from the same rifle that had killed Mr. X in the beginning of the movie, only this time, shot by Wesley.
The direction is stunning and the effects make the movie wonderful and enthralling to watch. It is one of the best action movies I’ve ever watched and it’s a must watch.
-Rishikesh Dhoot
-Words : 1514
