Classy thriller

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2004)

Yet another stylish thriller by Michael Mann who is currently without peer in the neo-noir crime genre. It has a formulaic (lonely taxi-driver is trapped on a death ride with a lonely killer) but solid plot, a superb sense of time and place, well sketched characters whose actions raise the viewer's attention for other reasons than the usual action movie logistics , and some ultrakinetic and suspenseful action scenes which put most of the recent action movies to shame. The performances serve the crisp characterizations well and Mann ,expectedly, imbues the story with his unerring use of the L.A. locations and his impressionistic visual flourishes. It is a more straightforward genre piece, lacking the complexity of "Heat" and the ambition of "The Insider" and "Ali" but, sparing the overstretched ending, it is a perfectly realized thriller from one of the most exciting directors working today.