He was no Walter White
I think what the creators thought was, what if we make a story about people with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, where the characters keep making decisions that make us hate them or not care for them at all, so in the end when they all die we don't care.
Movies with anti heroes like Scarface, Raging Bull and lately Breaking Bad's Walter White all had characters that we cared about and were fascinated by. Tokarev has dialogue, action scenes, gun play etc but illustrates nothing but emptiness.