film critic richard roeper of "richard roeper & the movies" gave the film a b stating: "gibson excels in this entertaining conspiracy thriller" in his review for the film. michael rechtshaffen, a critic for "the hollywood reporter", wrote in his review, "an intense mel gibson performance anchors this brutally effective crime thriller". some critics, such as a.o. scott of "the new york times", saw a similarity to "taken". other critics, such as "chicago sun-times" film critic roger ebert, "chicago tribune" film critic michael phillips, and "new orleans times-picayune" film critic mike scott, described ray winstone's character in the film as "intriguing".