The basic plot of this movie - people finding a large amount of money and soon find themselves on the run by the owner of the movie - has indeed be done a number of times before. But it's still a compelling plot even after all these years, so I can understand why these particular filmmakers decided to do their own version of this plot. But I suspect that the filmmakers were also depending on the audience, who would be familiar with the plot, to fill in the gaps that they were unable to do themselves. There is a loose, often sloppy feeling to the narrative here, almost as if the filmmakers were not working with a completed script and were making things up as they went along.
Still, despite the jumbled feeling to the narrative, the movie could still have worked, being thrilling and giving insight to the dark side of humanity. But the movie doesn't work in those areas as well. It takes almost half of the movie before things turn dark and dangerous for the central characters. Before that happens, we have to sit through them whining, fighting, and acting selfish. (As it turns out, they keep acting this way through the rest of the movie as well!) It's not that I immediately object to the characters being that way - it's the fact that it's not depicted in an interesting or compelling manner. The characters will instead make you greatly annoyed.
As for John Cusack... with this movie, he finds himself further down in the direct to video hell he has been stuck in for several years. Although he has shown to be a good actor in other movies, he is simply not good here. Miscasting him as a ruthless bad guy certainly hurts, but Cusack himself makes things worse by giving a very bored and phoned-in performance. There is nothing scary about the character he is playing, who should have been ruthless and tough.
To sum up, there is pretty much nothing here to make the movie worth a watch, even if you see it for free on Netflix (where I saw it.) See the movies "Cas$h" or "Night of the Running Man" instead for far better takes on this formula.
Still, despite the jumbled feeling to the narrative, the movie could still have worked, being thrilling and giving insight to the dark side of humanity. But the movie doesn't work in those areas as well. It takes almost half of the movie before things turn dark and dangerous for the central characters. Before that happens, we have to sit through them whining, fighting, and acting selfish. (As it turns out, they keep acting this way through the rest of the movie as well!) It's not that I immediately object to the characters being that way - it's the fact that it's not depicted in an interesting or compelling manner. The characters will instead make you greatly annoyed.
As for John Cusack... with this movie, he finds himself further down in the direct to video hell he has been stuck in for several years. Although he has shown to be a good actor in other movies, he is simply not good here. Miscasting him as a ruthless bad guy certainly hurts, but Cusack himself makes things worse by giving a very bored and phoned-in performance. There is nothing scary about the character he is playing, who should have been ruthless and tough.
To sum up, there is pretty much nothing here to make the movie worth a watch, even if you see it for free on Netflix (where I saw it.) See the movies "Cas$h" or "Night of the Running Man" instead for far better takes on this formula.