Load of rubbish!!

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Boring

A Major Disappointment

Don't let its outwards fool you. It's not a pure thriller. It is one biting movie about love and trust in modern times, yet through the shape of a thriller. Scriptwriter (Ross Thomas) made a world of betrayal, where everybody scheming everybody dirtily and endlessly. And the survivor could be the one who loves honestly for love, the one who's immaculate and ready to face !Perhaps, the end would be disappointing; it even may turn the whole thing into pointless movie. However, it got to end the 2 malicious worldly-wise leads by the hand of inexperienced idiot who closes her eyes while shooting guns, all for making the deep bitter paradox, and for the sake of assuring how a couple like this would one way or another end each other, and how the true lover can win at last (even forcedly!), especially with this easy naive solution of random festival of killing, where the bad guys go to hell, and the kind one hits the jackpot, and wins the revenge (How poetic, and fabricated, this justice was!). Not to mention that it didn't care about the rest of the characters' fates, which ultimately stamped it with the "deficient" mark, and it is.Despite that, it managed somehow to embody the concept of (Bad Company) whereas it's not a "bad intelligence", no, it's more like "evil association" that must eat and eat till it eats itself in the end. The movie's title got its double meaning already, but the movie itself wasn't perfectly satisfying in the both lines, expressly the superficial one, so that's where all the bad feeling about the movie may come from.Director (Damian Harris) filled it with stylish style. Everything was beautiful and anesthetically colorful. The image was so soft, the cinematography and the editing were always smooth, the clothes seemed sharp, even the smallest details were fine. Something to attract, bewitch, and make the irony with all the putrefaction within; where nothing is filthy but the whole moralities. I loved the private agency's set; it looked like luxurious prison, scary company, or fake monastery. Though, I felt some coldness when it came to dealing with what was inside the characters, which left a clear negative effect on the acting. Ellen Barkin was awful, aside from a poorly written role, her face was so provocatively dead, and originally she's pathetically sexy to be that irresistible Femme Fatale !Yes, it's partly amusing, acridly satirical, with a nasty character, capturing the outrageous sense of the 1980s' and the 1990s' erotic thrillers. But it's not a brilliant thriller, inasmuch as a movie about utterly unfaithful world, where all would kill or be killed simply for money and power. So when I listen to its clever sad music score, I feel the real motive of the movie, and I feel sad because the movie, as a whole, remains semi-contrived and imperfect though.

I saw the film when it was first released. Recently it showed up on cable and decided to take a second look. As it was my impression then, I still think this elegant thriller could have used a more logical plot because there are many questions that even a second glance doesn't answer.The film owes a great deal to the stylish production it was given by director Damian Harris and his team. The Vancouver location doesn't take away from Seattle, where it's supposed to take place. The excellent cinematography of Jack N. Green adds dimension to the movie.Laurence Fishburne, as the cool Nelson Crowe, is a major asset to the picture. So is Ellen Barkin, an actress that is always good to watch and is sadly missed from the screen, as she hasn't made a film in years. Frank Langella, Michael Beach, and above all, Gia Carides, made tremendous contribution to the film.

The movie was decently laid out and plotted- Larry Fishburne was just too cool in the whole movie. It wasn't the best movie, but for some underhanded dirty dealing showing the training of the CIA in the best light of conspiracy theorists, it was pretty effective.Note that a *whole* lot of people reviewing the movie apparently were not paying attention during the climax... the rest contains spoilers that explain it...spoiler. spoiler. spoiler. spoiler.In the finale, the silly woman who had gone to get revenge shoots *with her eyes closed* and empties the gun she had taken, hitting *nothing*. Thus the outgunning that people talk about, or ellen barkin getting taken out with rounds to the belly are hogwash. In the tradition of Prizzi's Honor, Barkin and Fishburne stalk through this attempting to kill each other. Barkin takes Fishburne in the head, and he shoots her in the heart at the exact same time. Only when the shooting stops and the woman opens her eyes does she see them lying dead... her gun having hit *noone*.

Underrated, gripping thriller was a big box-office failure but it deserves a second chance on home video. Tightly plotted (there's always something happening, but the complications never get too confusing) and smoothly directed, it's a movie that knows how to keep you absorbed, even though its nihilistic ending is slightly cliched. Give it a try. (***)