Beware all the positive reviews. Reading that this film bears any resemblance to a Guy Ritchie film made me cringe.<br /><br />"Contrived" never described a film as perfectly as it does this one.<br /><br />From laughable bad-cop antics, to pointless paranoid schizophrenics and finally to an brief and amateurish handling of serious political issues, "The Criminal" promises to fail to engage the mind of the sophisticated movie-watcher.<br /><br />That said, "The Criminal" isn't terrible. For the most part, the acting is better than average, and there certainly isn't a lack of action. However the writing and directing are marginal at best. 4 out of 10.