Of course, it is not nearly so objectionable as the "family" of films represented by UNHINGED, but probably more folks would choose "overwrought" over "inert" if such were the only choices available (which all too often seems to be the case these days).
Clearly Russell Crowe needs the dough, and that explains 99.999% of his motivation for selecting material that is clearly below his earlier standards. He'll have to wait for Liam Neeson to retire in order to appropriate the brooding avenger niche, as opposed to the sociopathic avenger niche in which he is currently mired.
Neo-noir can probably be analogized to the current state of baseball: there are fewer and fewer balls in play, strikeouts continue to rise, and the suits in charge are just milking it until the cow has no more milk and topples over.
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