After proving himself to be worthless in that role with Total Recall he's still getting hired?
He's not a bad actor, but he can't lead an action movie for sh*t.
Seriously.
actors job is to act. sometimes they choose things that have awful dialog, awful plots, etc. it doesnt make them bad actors. every actor you can name who is 'great' has done *beep* movies. or movies that you think are *beep* that others like. Name any actor, i guarantee it. They are just like anyone else in the business, the lighting guys, the makeup people. They do a job, they go in with certain expectations, they can't be resposible for the way the whole thing turns out.
Farrell was absolutely genius in Minority Report, he was great in Horrible Bosses, and this film shows him IMHO being great again. the people on here who love this movie are all talking about the relationship between the two main characters - and one of those was him. Rapace didn't do that by herself. They were a team.
I haven't seen this movie, as I boycott Farrel since Total Recall remake and gayfest Alexander.. however I was saying the opposite of what you understood.
Farrell is too sucky a action star for this movie, not viceversa.