Interesting thriller, but not as smart as it thinks it is

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2009)

This is a wannabe Hitchcockian thriller which mostly works. The setup is intriguing with the hapless Josh Hartnett apparently being set up to commit a murder. The film is rather violent and some of the gory scenes feel unnecessary. Bruce Willis has a brief role and is alright. Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley are decent but both feel a trifle wasted. The plot twists occasionally feel too clever by half. However Lucy Liu is excellent in a brief role and has great chemistry with Hartnett. We can sense how the story is going to end halfway through the film. It's still watchable but should have been better.
Overall 6/10