24 Hours to Live

Ethan Hawke tries his best to elevate this poorly thrown together action thriller, whose premise is a cross between Taken and Crank. He plays an assassin with less than a day to live after a hit gone wrong, and in that time attempts to get revenge on the employers that betrayed him. Never more than five minutes away from a graphic shoot-out, the film delights in bloodshed, as Hawke dispatches a number of nameless assailants in increasingly elaborate ways. He shares little-to-no chemistry with co-star Xu Qing, playing his target-turned-ally, and much of their time together is spent running toward a rather inevitable conclusion. Liam Cunningham and Paul Anderson are menacing as the men on Hawke's tail, while Rutger Hauer has a small role of little consequence. For fans of mindless violence, 24 Hours to Live will prove a solid diversion. However, it is a film that wastes the opportunity to do something interesting with its marquee star.