Locked In and On Target

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2014)

I like to hand this movie to my friends and tell them this is one of my favorites. Their response is always something along the lines of 'But... It has Tom Cruise in it.' That fella sure does seem to be picking up momentum on the hate train. After watching this movie, I respect him. Still, he doesn't make this movie. It's the whole package. I liked it more than most, granted. But most people will agree that this movie is at least GOOD.
Even today the film has a unique feel. Come to find out, this is because of the early all-digital shoot they did. On a Thomson Viper HD camera, I believe. Why does this matter? Shooting all digital back in 2004 was a feat in itself. But beyond that, they digitally adjusted the shoots to have a really natural field of color. The setting of nighttime LA is captured beautifully. This does have its downsides as sometimes graininess will show up.
The DP does some nifty camera work. Its not so much a 'shaky-cam' as it is a 'pannycam(?)'... The camera likes to move itself. Its fun to watch and is really unusual.
I've already mentioned Cruise's commendable role, but Jamie Foxx nailed his as well. The BEST thing about this movie is the uneasy relationship of their characters. The cautious interaction between them. How Cruise's killer is always trying to get his looser cabbie to talk and open up. Most of it comes back to the dialog, I suppose. Also worth mentioning is that Javier Bardem has a nice little role in here too.
The most noticeable problem, after watching it a few times, lies in the pacing. Every time we get 2/3 through the movie I feel a lull. This was recognized in the editing. And they did the smartest move in the book. They rolled with it, and built up our expectations of the promise of violence set to the soothing, but volatile sound of Audioslave's "Staring at the Sun".
Its may masterpiece to me, but certainly worth anyone's viewing. Don't let people's overreaction to supposed plot holes keep you from missing out of an excellent ride.