Butler's brusque, beady-eyed, scowling-hulk charisma has aged well. A quick-fire actor in a caveman's body, he has the ability to lift a piece of pulp so that it almost seems like a real movie.

Indeed, watching Gerard Butler, reprising his role of tough cop “Big Nick” O’Brien, struggle to learn the proper pronunciation of the word “croissant” is one of the more interesting elements of this formulaic if slickly filmed movie in which Nick goes after Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.