Ben Affleck has had quite an up and down career. From the promising beginning that begun with Dazed And Confused, Affleck showed everyone his talent. Also, teaming up with fellow actor Matt Damon and/or director Kevin Smith gave us films such as Mallrats, Good Will Hunting, Dogma and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

After the disappointment of Pearl Harbor, Affleck seemed to lost interest in serious acting and just get easy pay cheques with various rom-coms and superhero film Daredevil.
However, 2007 saw him debut as director with Gone Baby Gone. From then on, his rise back up the Hollywood hierarchy has seen get many positive reviews and an Oscar for Best Picture with Argo in 2013. He has many projects in the pipeline right now, and this latest project see him as the lead character.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor who has some great films such as Miracle and Warrior, I was certainly interested in seeing what this was about. However without seeing any trailers, I was not sure what to expect from it.

What I got was something that I did not think I would like this much. The story has a lot of plot strands that you need to figure out if they all fit together. It was like watching a human puzzle take place.
I liked the way it gave you information of the story very selectively and slowly. This does not mean that it is slow paced per say. It just felt to me that it gave time to flesh out all of the characters. We ended up having a solid backstory for pretty much all the main characters which was great to see.

The action scenes was the biggest surprise for me. I did not expect it to be so hard-hitting, fast-paced, well choreographed and shot. What I think makes this action much better then in your generic action film, is that it helps develop the characters more rather then doing those scenes to sell the film and make it meaningless.

Ben Affleck gives us another captivating lead. You could feel him becoming this stone-cold character and not him just going through the motions to get a pay cheque. Any action scene he was involved in was impressive to watch. I felt nervous for anyone about to go into a fight with him. He also executed the characters mental disability really well.
Jon Bernthal was developed and performed well. His intro scene is a big highlight and very memorable. I hope to see him in more roles in the future.
J.K. Simmons was a solid support. He almost reminded me of Morgan Freeman's character in Se7en. I liked his chemistry with Cynthia Addai-Robinson who was also good in her role. It was nice to see John Lithgow in this, and I felt he did well with what he had.
Anna Kendrick's character was good in parts, but fine overall. Sadly, I felt the marketing for this film suggested she would play a more important role in my eyes. She was not used as much as you might expect.

Another surprise was the amount of comedic moments. I managed to laugh a fair amount through this, and nearly all of them from Affleck's character.
Other positives to mention is the score, and the violence. While it is not constant, I felt score was solid on the whole and elevated multiple scenes really well. As for the violence, they don't hold back on it. That was great to see, and thankfully none of it was gratuitous.

Amazingly, I don't really have any negatives to mention.

I think it is easy to see that I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect from it. But I ended up being impressed with the execution of the story and action.

I love it that it never went conventional, especially in its story-telling. Unlike most action films, you did not to pay attention in this one if you want to understand everything that is going on.
Don't worry if you feel frustrated that you don't what is going on all the time. I'm still trying to piece everything together. A lot of it is explained later on, or even right at the very end. It also contains a pretty cool minor twist that almost came full circle.

Affleck gave us a very strong and memorable main character that I can see be as memorable as the other famous action characters.

The comparisons that I would give to this film will sound very strange on paper. While it has the action of a Bourne and John Wick, it also has the smartness of Good Will Hunting, Rain Man or even Se7en at times.

Gavin O'Connor and his team did a great job. Not sure whether I want a sequel or not. Part of me wants this to remain as a stand alone. Another part of me wants to see a sequel. If successful at the box office, then I can see a possible trilogy/franchise in the works.

Rating: 8/10