Expertly crafted neo noir.

Rating: 8/10 (31 August 2010)

"I don't want to nail you. I want to find out who put you up to it."
A drought-stricken, late 1930's Los Angeles serves as the backdrop to this neo noir starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. What starts out as a seemingly routine job for a private detective of shadowing a cheating spouse, balloons into a murky mystery involving murder, greed, and long-hidden secrets.
I had to watch this twice, because the first time I was a bit distracted and didn't get the full experience of the movie. These kinds of films require you to pay as close attention to the details as the detective who's the protagonist of the story, in order to fit all the pieces together. The mystery of what's going on has several layers that are slowly revealed as the story unfolds, Dunaway and Nicholson are brilliant playing off one another, and the ending is truly memorable and perfectly reinforces the theme of the movie. This is a flick that almost any fan of the genre will enjoy.