Girls, go to see this!

Rating: 9/10 (10 October 1998)

When I came out of JB, I started wondering why I'd enjoyed it so much; and then I realised - how often in the cinema, even now, does the woman pull all the strings, twisting the men round her little finger simply by the use of her brain, and come out the winner in a thriller? Pam Grier gets the cool wisecracking role which used to belong to Bogart once: "too cool for school" (as Ordell says). AND she's 44, AND she announces as much, AND she's still sexy as hell.. My role-model for the week, if not the year! It helps that Jackson is a worthy opponent and a thoroughly charismatic "villain" - in the end the film does come down to a rather classic "flawed hero(ine) v. attractive baddie" story, but that's part of the fun. Everyone else puts in good performances, and Forster looks like Leonard Cohen, who really ought to be an actor. Great. I didn't find it long even in a very uncomfortable cinema.