A simple story (though its premise gives hope of something better) whose length depends to an uninteresting degree on portraying endlessly brutal fights between the protagonist (on the whole, a likable fellow) and gangsters dressed in clothes borrowed from American film noir. The love story which begins the narrative gets no more than a glance while following the protagonist's quest to find and then avenge his brother, but that relationship is also left barely examined in favor of the fights in various locales. Nor does the film explain in any way the enslavement of the singer. I was left with many irritated questions, including the fundamental one of wondering why directors think humans can sustain dozens of repeated blows to the head and gut and continue to fight for another ten minutes as though it was the first round. It's a form of laziness, a substitute for knowing and telling the story. .
