I'm not sure how to rate this. I knew nothing about the movie before seeing it. The concept is an old one: Is it moral to kill/torture one man in order to save the lives of thousands? On the one hand they did a good job in presentation: Good acting (by Jackson and Sheen), good suspense, good direction and score, etc.
On the other hand, I have a problem with the writing. I wanted to torture the writer myself when he kept using the "Jesus, this is..." phrase. But I got even more annoyed by the way he simplified the thinking of Agent Helen Brody: she changes her mind every 10 minutes and it's just stupid. One minute she thinks torture is wrong, but 5 minutes later she says that he should do "anything possible", only to change her mind back 5 minutes later, and so on. Does she really need to see the 53 people killed in order to grasp the concept of a bomb and change her mind? And how come she cares about 53 people but later doesn't care about millions getting killed? In order to present the moral dilemma, they should have used a stronger character - one that doesn't change her mind all the time and that gives better dialogs than "you can't do that" and "it's not alright". In other words, the writer should have invested more effort in analyzing the moral dilemma instead of giving us one-dimensional characters.
So the writing is stupid, but as a whole the movie works.
5.5/10 Worth watching
On the other hand, I have a problem with the writing. I wanted to torture the writer myself when he kept using the "Jesus, this is..." phrase. But I got even more annoyed by the way he simplified the thinking of Agent Helen Brody: she changes her mind every 10 minutes and it's just stupid. One minute she thinks torture is wrong, but 5 minutes later she says that he should do "anything possible", only to change her mind back 5 minutes later, and so on. Does she really need to see the 53 people killed in order to grasp the concept of a bomb and change her mind? And how come she cares about 53 people but later doesn't care about millions getting killed? In order to present the moral dilemma, they should have used a stronger character - one that doesn't change her mind all the time and that gives better dialogs than "you can't do that" and "it's not alright". In other words, the writer should have invested more effort in analyzing the moral dilemma instead of giving us one-dimensional characters.
So the writing is stupid, but as a whole the movie works.
5.5/10 Worth watching