A great film, relatively small flaws

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2005)

First of all, if this is an accurate depiction of life in LA, the movie compellingly makes me glad I don't live there! Fantastic directing, acting, writing, film editing, and storytelling! Don Cheadle is really becoming an acting juggernaut! One of Bullock's better jobs of acting too. The tension in quite a few scenes is nearly unbearable. A few flaws detracted from the over all experience for me, however. The opening premise does not seem to ring true. Although LA is different from some other big cities, in that direct contact between people is much more limited, the net effect in terms of hostility and crime is not all that different than New York or Chicago. The problem is more with big cities in general than with LA air conditioning and cars in particular. The other problem was with the Persian storeowner's irrational treatment of the Latino locksmith. He seems to speak English well enough in all the other scenes to be able to understand what the locksmith is telling him, but he acts as if he doesn't know the difference between a broken lock and a broken door. He showed no appreciation for the work the locksmith did at no charge. I also don't know what he expected to get from holding up the locksmith later, unless he though he was responsible for the robbery of his store. None of this was made very clear, although this storyline's crucial scene itself was an absolute corker, no doubt! A must see for 2005!