Had so much potential...

How frustrating was this movie?...
To screw up such a great premise, added to the fact that Dominic Cooper gave it his all, only adds insult to injury.

*WARNING: SPOILERS*

The main culprit is a weak script. Instead of going the full drama route, the film derails in its last third, muddling things with a ridiculous love triangle, and the assassination attempt with all the convenient pieces falling together (Uday gets shot in the crotch (real subtle...), the accomplice is the tragic husband, and to to top it off, the key to a clean getaway is the redeemed bodyguard).

I don't even know if Latif's involvement in an assassination attempt is true. I also doubt that if there really was a Sarrab, she was that involved in the story. They both seem like very heavy handed attempts to add gravitas to an otherwise already perfectly gruesome story.

Why does Hollywood insist on always throwing in a girl in what would have otherwise been a solid drama? I don't just fault the script for that, but the dreadful Ludivine Sagnier (avoid Love Crime as well in which she is even more atrocious). Every scene she has with Dominic Cooper is cringe worthy.
Where he disappears effortlessly in both roles, she tries so hard to be the character that it totally derails the movie once the story relies too much on her involvement.
And why get the girl involved in the escape/redemption in the first place? Latif's family was plenty motivation enough.
Also, why add a shoot out? (hard to believe Latif who was frisked on every other occasion, can just walk into Uday's birthday bash with a gun).

Why not just keep the focus on the building tension between the two men as the story goes further down the rabbit hole?

Too bad. I really wanted to like this movie. It's not that often that you get such a great explosive premise: a real life monster and the person he forced to be his shadow.

Still, for Dominic Cooper's performance alone, it's worth a watch... maybe a rental.