Disappointing flick from Cruise et Mann (on almost all counts)

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 2004)

*** Hinted Spoilers***
I love Cruise. He's such a great actor in most of what he ever does, even if it's "just" action. The MIs were fine, and his dramas are really great. Why he picked this flick is beyond me. Loops holes are huge, fight scene in club is out right stupid and ludicrous, the intellectual black cabbie would have been fin it wasn't so bogus, the black lawyer was black  how lucky is the cabbie guy (or us, or we would have an inter-racial couple  oh gosh!) and of course the twist in the end is sewn like only a very muddled bad script could every be. On top of that  I am surprised no one commented on the fact that this is shot in HDTV. Now that's fine but gives some scenes a very low-budget look, and along with the car wreckage and the special FX the combo is weird. Mametian moments end up as corny lines (recall the lawyer and the cabbie talk in the taxi? What a romantic moment  but so badly written and the music just did it for it!) and action sequences (like the club scene or Cruise almost falling through the door glass he shatters  did you notice how the audience go 'wow' from realizing this was NOT a good take?) are prolonged to the point that the pandemonium reminds me of Carrie's ending: surreal in how lame it looks. This is OK for most mindless people, I am sure, hence the release of it. But this is Michael Mann The maker of The Insider (1999), Heat (1995) and Last of the Mohicans (1992). What is going on with him? Too bad. I would state that the cinematography is nice (artistic with taste for a drama film), but places the movie's atmosphere far from the intentions of the script, that is mostly read as a ironic-cynical-comical film. The fact we suppose to really care about the characters is lost once the plot gets too stupid to handle. I won't got through the spoilers list  just save yourselves the time and see this only if there's nothing else of merit at your DVD store.