Quite brilliant!...

Rating: 9/10 (5 June 2012)

An interesting mix of tunes and the back streets of LA form a rather interesting backdrop to this tale. Nicely made with a few nice stunts thrown in for good measure (well there had to be really, didn't there).
A very slow paced film, almost noir in the look and feel to it, the tension slowly builds. There are, at times, some scenes of extreme violence that are by no means out of place here. One scene in an elevator (if you've seen it, you'll know which one I mean) is an almost perfect moment of cinema. No dialogue, just a perfect scene (IMO). I did have just one gripe though, and that was the casting of Carey Mulligan; I couldn't get my head around how someone like her could end up with the guy she was with. Or maybe I'm just reading it wrong, I don't know. But other than that it's quite an eye-opening film and one I have no problem in deeming HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
My score: 9.1/10
IMDb Score: 8.0/10 (based on 185,406 votes at the time of going to press).
MetaScore: 79/100: (Based on 40 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 92/100 (based on 225 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 78/100 'Liked it' (based on 72,813 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.