Mann is still unable to end a movie strongly.

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2004)

---THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS!!---
Mann has made a very good movie, but, as many other reviewers have pointed out, the ending is clichéd and silly. His other movies share this problem. Inevitably, the protagonist survives and (usually) gets the girl.
In order to make this happen, Mann has to invest Max with the most unlikely equanimity and a phenomenal natural skill with weapons. He also has to make Vincent, a practiced and well-trained hit-man, act like an idiot with suicidal urges.
To be fair, this is really Stuart Beattie's fault. I guess he has been watching too many "Die Hard" movies. But I would have thought that Mann would have insisted on a little more reality (hmmmm...maybe I mean a more realistic unreal plot) and authenticity. This is even more mysterious because Mann had no problem killing off main characters and love interests in the "Miami Vice" series.
I would have given this movie another star if Vincent had ultimately killed the prosecutor and then said something philosophical to Max before simply walking away. The evening and morning would simply bookend a night in which many characters enter Max's life, change it, and then disappear forever, leaving him a changed man.
*** out of *****