Fun but Uneven

Rating: 7/10 (1 September 2008)

A victim of mistaken identity, a man finds himself in the position of committing a murder or being killed by underworld figures. The plot has similarities to "North by Northwest," a fact that is even mentioned in this movie. The first half of the film is quite good, with break-neck pacing and witty dialog propelling the story forward, although it is not clear what is going on. Then the plot turns dark as the loose ends are tied and the big pictures starts to become clear; the film also starts to become less fun at this point. There are good performances from Hartnett, Liu, Freeman, Kingsley, and Willis. Well-made but a bit too clever for its own good.