Agatha Christie probably never imagined that one of her novels (And Then There Were None) would serve as the creative spark for an action flick involving an elite DEA team led by Arnold Schwarzenegger that winds up being picked off one by one after staging a seemingly successful raid on the safe house of a drug lord. Leave it to David Ayers (director and co-writer with Skip Woods) to craft a hard-boiled thriller with a solid cast of heavy hitters, featuring Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway, Harold Perrineau and Martin Donovan, ready and willing to go down fighting, especially after recent efforts like Harsh Times and End of Watch. Opens wide March 28. (R) Not screened in time for review
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2014.