(This review may contain spoilers).
I haven’t seen the original film this one is based on… I really only know one iconic scene from having seen it referenced elsewhere. So although I know this film isn’t an original idea, I can’t say how close it is to the first film.
I did feel that this movie drew me in right from the start. The extreme sports made this film really intense to watch for most of it… but I was disappointed that there was little time spent developing the friendships between the two main male characters. I would have liked the romance to be taken out, since I didn’t feel it added very much to the story.
The idea of the eight challenges of nature was a really interesting one. I was a bit disappointed that other members of the gang didn’t get a whole lot of character development. I felt that Utah and Bodhi were easy to understand, while I didn’t care so much about the rest of Bodhi’s friends.
I liked seeing Utah before he joined the FBI, but it would have been good to see a bit more of what happened in the ten years to cause him to try to seek out the thrills in a different way. I was a bit confused about how the other FBI agents fit into all of it… and how there was a budget for Utah to go undercover.
I did find myself on the edge of my seat for a lot of the movie. I found it really easy to understand the adrenaline rush the gang members got from completing the challenge… even though I was sitting there thinking there was no way I’d be able to do anything like that.
I recognised quite a few of the actors in this movie and even though I didn’t remember seeing the actor who played Utah before, I did think he did a good job… and I’ve enjoyed the work of the actor who played Bodhi in other things.
I probably will watch this movie again at some point in the future. I wouldn’t say it should have been a 12A, more like a 15, but it did draw me in and had some very tense scenes.
Ink of Blood 