Tom Berenger has a quick scene, which was a joy. Carla Gugino does her best looking hot on screen without getting naked. Adewale (Mr. Eko or AAA) is fantastic as the preacher man. He does a really awesome job playing against type and playing with a role that puts some meat on its bones in weird ways, and he hides the accent very well.  Xander Berkeley is in it, again, playing a cipher. Which will get us to our problems.

Most of the actors are playing ciphers. You've got the skeezeball criminal, the rapist/child pornographer, the big black badass, the former drug addict who can't quit the habit, and the cold calculating badass that needs to kill for revenge. Even a strange subplot with an assassin chasing after Johnson. The cipher aspect was probably done for affect, seeing as how the majority of characters aren't even given names at all. Just Driver, Cop, Killer, etc. It works to a degree, but when we're learning about Johnson's past, without a name, it's a little strange. We know his brother's name is Gary, but we have no clue what his name is. Hell, Gugino's cop and Thornton's cop get names. There is a lot that doesn't make sense. Why the subplot with the other killer and his girlfriend was even in the movie makes no sense at all (unless the director was trying to have someone in the movie who spoke more than 5 lines in the whole film). Dwayne still struggles with the heartfelt scenes, which is unfortunate, because he did so well in Southland Tales. You know, at being an actor. I guess it doesn't matter anymore, he's the badass we all want him to be. Jennifer Carpenter just does nothing in the movie. And I still don't see what people see in her. I just see the weirdo girl who needs exorcising.