I mean really, with the tons of absolute mind numbing drivel out there, to call this movie 'Horrible' is just plain goofy! (Notice my stunning logic at play...) Seriously though, for a pretty much straight forward crime thriller WITHOUT a lot of cutesy self-referential style overkill that we see CONSTANTLY today, it is a good, sold, entertaining film. In a word (or a few) the STORY is good. The writing is just fine; I mean, we're not talking David Mamet here or anything but the writing is solid. The acting is perfectly fine too; no Oscar winning performances but they fit the parts. This isn't a spoiler but as far as the acting and writing only are concerned in a VERY minor scene, I really liked the little interplay between the two leads when she tells him that she is 'in charge'; her delivery is great and his responses are perfect.
The direction is very competent and somewhat stylized but without detracting from the story.
The Alaska locations along with the city are used quite well. The cinematography is above average with some nice and contributory stylization without overdoing it. In other words, there are some photographic stylizations, but there aren't like a friggin' TON of edits just 'because'...
Yes, okay... if you want to be TOTALLY anal about it, the premise is a bit far-fetched, but what the hell, it is a decent, fairly gripping thriller. I like Robert Patrick; he just has a nice laid back style which fits his role well. And, the killer, when you do figure out who the person is, is kind of a neat reveal, although perhaps a little far fetched. Definitely original though!
Also, something that I personally really appreciate is that there is a refreshing lack of 'cliches', thank Goodness! The lead woman although strong, as she has to be to do her job, THANKFULLY does NOT come across as some superficial b*tch with an attitude (Gee, how many times have we seen that one...?) She has a genuine self-effacing sense of humour which is VERY refreshing. She pulls that off well. Even the 'love' scene (c'mon, you KNOW there is gonna be one) is introduced fairly believably, again thankfully WITHOUT all the cutesypie, vomitously (I know that's not a word but it should be) phony 'foreplay' that we normally have to endure. In a minor related note, to show the director's subtlety, the love scene itself is well photographed and edited with nice dissolve shots of Alaska. Sounds corny, I know, but it works very nicely : )
Believe me, there are a LOT worse ways to spend your time, even where watching movies are concerned. I guess 'competent' and 'entertaining' are the words best to describe the film. Like I mentioned before, with all the TRULY horrible, lame, and insulting stuff out there I think this film is a good go! Oh, to comment back on the scene which involves the 'first' suspect, I COMPLETELY disagree with Mr. SamHeartsMovies. I thought that was a neat little stylized and very entertaining insertion into the film; it provided not only some basic straight forward action but I personally thought the character and his 'surroundings' had a nice surreal touch (of course I LOVE David Lynch too : ) So, I would say that out of the hundreds, if not thousands of crime thrillers that I've seen, this one solidly falls in with the better ones. Just don't expect the brilliance of 'THE USUAL SUSPECTS' or 'CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND' or something at THAT level. But, compared to the usual police thriller it is definitely above average,fun, and entertaining.
I gave this an '8' to compensate a little for what I consider an inaccurately LOW 5.x that it has now. Honestly, I would give it a solid 6.5.
The direction is very competent and somewhat stylized but without detracting from the story.
The Alaska locations along with the city are used quite well. The cinematography is above average with some nice and contributory stylization without overdoing it. In other words, there are some photographic stylizations, but there aren't like a friggin' TON of edits just 'because'...
Yes, okay... if you want to be TOTALLY anal about it, the premise is a bit far-fetched, but what the hell, it is a decent, fairly gripping thriller. I like Robert Patrick; he just has a nice laid back style which fits his role well. And, the killer, when you do figure out who the person is, is kind of a neat reveal, although perhaps a little far fetched. Definitely original though!
Also, something that I personally really appreciate is that there is a refreshing lack of 'cliches', thank Goodness! The lead woman although strong, as she has to be to do her job, THANKFULLY does NOT come across as some superficial b*tch with an attitude (Gee, how many times have we seen that one...?) She has a genuine self-effacing sense of humour which is VERY refreshing. She pulls that off well. Even the 'love' scene (c'mon, you KNOW there is gonna be one) is introduced fairly believably, again thankfully WITHOUT all the cutesypie, vomitously (I know that's not a word but it should be) phony 'foreplay' that we normally have to endure. In a minor related note, to show the director's subtlety, the love scene itself is well photographed and edited with nice dissolve shots of Alaska. Sounds corny, I know, but it works very nicely : )
Believe me, there are a LOT worse ways to spend your time, even where watching movies are concerned. I guess 'competent' and 'entertaining' are the words best to describe the film. Like I mentioned before, with all the TRULY horrible, lame, and insulting stuff out there I think this film is a good go! Oh, to comment back on the scene which involves the 'first' suspect, I COMPLETELY disagree with Mr. SamHeartsMovies. I thought that was a neat little stylized and very entertaining insertion into the film; it provided not only some basic straight forward action but I personally thought the character and his 'surroundings' had a nice surreal touch (of course I LOVE David Lynch too : ) So, I would say that out of the hundreds, if not thousands of crime thrillers that I've seen, this one solidly falls in with the better ones. Just don't expect the brilliance of 'THE USUAL SUSPECTS' or 'CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND' or something at THAT level. But, compared to the usual police thriller it is definitely above average,fun, and entertaining.
I gave this an '8' to compensate a little for what I consider an inaccurately LOW 5.x that it has now. Honestly, I would give it a solid 6.5.