Excellent thriller, and bravo, Gerard Butler!

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2019)

This film flew under my radar for a decade; not sure why I'd never heard of it. Jamie Foxx is solid and excellent in the part of the straight man (always the toughest character to put across), and Gerard Butler is an outstanding 10+ as the "good guy/bad guy" villain. The plot, up till the very end (when things do spiral a bit out of control) is excellent, and the writing is top-notch throughout: understated and menacing.
Reviewers' criticisms tend to focus on:
First, the wide liberties taken with legal procedure, police procedure and reality. I can't disagree, but I had no trouble enjoying this as an action/psychological film, start to finish. If we held every movie to a strict burden of accuracy, there'd be damed few films left. Sometimes---frequently, in fact---one must put aside the real world and simply take a film on its own terms.
Second, the ending. Again I agree; it's a comedown from the previous hour and a half of tight action---but that wasn't enough to spoil the film for me. The ending flashes by quickly, and we are spared any after-the-fact moralizing or explanations. Didn't really bother me at all.
P.S. - I can't resist commenting on one of the "Goofs" posted on IMDb: that the cello fingerings in the recital scene do not match the soundtrack. I'm a professional musician, and that's certainly true. But even worse is that Nick's daughter DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE HER ACCOMPANIST! Major faux pas!