I love sci-fi, so decided to give it a try - a lot of non-Hollywood sci-fis are kinda great. And this Kazakhi (?) feature seemed interesting.

Unfortunately, this did not hit a mark. It started rather OK, but quickly went sideways. Multiple plots, shaky camera, horrible dubbing... Even beautiful Kristianna Loken couldn't change the movie for the better. And the special defects were... not great. Asylum-level crap.

I don't think this was a low-budget production, to be honest. But, it really wasn't good. After an hour or so I started playing with the phone, reading news, checking tinder and all that.

Oh lovely Kristianna, why did you play here.

The storyline is all over the place, it started out with a bank heist, it turned to a kinda loose-cop-on-the-run then to an evil-corporate-organization-that-wants- to-take-over-the-world story. it's so convoluted at times, and characters teleport from one place to another with no explanation, but the characterization is handled well with effective flashbacks, and the pacing is good.

The action sequences are very entertaining and well-choreographed, especially the foot chase scenes. The cinematography is good; the camera-work is all right tho a bit shaky at times, the blue color grading is a nice touch, tho the contrast and saturation are a bit high as it makes the everything looks too radiant esp during outdoor scenes. The score is nice. the special effects are cheap-looking but good enough to not take you of the movie.

The performances are good at best, the two leads actors brought energy to their performance esp during action sequences, Kristanna Loken is effective as the villain as she's both beautiful and menacing and Armand Assante is solid as the estranged father.

in summary, Hunting the phantom is not a bad film per se, but it's certainly far away from being great. it's an entertaining action flick, that's all.