A unique combo of wit and plot

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2013)

The matter of fact dialog ("I bet it was that mouth that got you that nose"), is dead pan clever and carries both the theme of misdirection as well as the plot. Having few DVDs on the shelf where the dialog is the style of the film, I appreciate this even more. Josh Hartnet's coy act along with Lucy Liu's adorable "girl-next-door-slash- Columbo" routine, allows us to have a sympathetic rooting interest while the gangster portion of the plot is both comic and bold as we're introduced to the serious history of the main players. Hated the wall papered sets, liked the camera movement in telling the story from present - to history - back to present and appreciated the Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley personas as they told their story and acted their perspectives as dueling criminal kingpins. But those sets were distracting at best....