So Much Talent, So Much Promise and Then Off The Tracks

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2005)

A big admirer of Michael Mann (even Heat, and failed TV series Robbery Homicide), and always enjoy the talented Mr Cruise. As a Raymond Chandler lover, a mystery (action) thriller set in LA, I am already biased in favor. Jamie Foxx as a film actor is new to me, but eager to check his work out.
So ... what exactly went wrong? Certainly not the initial 90 minutes, which while hardly original and a bit far-fetched, featured a deliciously malevolent Tom Cruise and the usual Michael Mann flourishes. But then ...
SPOILERS (not detailed but don't look anyway!): Too many coincidences (and some you can probably figure out a mile away), turn something a bit different into an improbable, let's face it silly denouement. So while most of the film was, to me, Above Average, those last 30 minutes drag this promising enterprise lower.