Under-rated, one of the greatest flicks of all time

Rating: 9/10 (4 December 2014)

OK I know what you are thinking.
How can a film with a really high IMDb score and much critical acclaim be under-rated? Well, THAT is one of the ironies of the job of film reviewing.
Most viewers saw a really good little thriller here.
I saw a perfect film. Flawless. A one of a kind.
I saw a film by a brilliant writer, Jason Smilovic, who does not write a lot. The perfect script was a thinking man's FISTFUL of DOLLARS.
I saw a film, similarly, by a director Paul McGuigan who does not direct a lot. But did a flawless job anyway.
I saw actors who couldn't give a bad performance if their lives depended on it. Freeman, Kingsley, wow. Say no more. Bruce Willis does not so much act here as he "haunts" this film playing the persona he developed in dozens of movies.
Hartnett does a star turn based on sheer charisma. He does the first 10 minutes in a TOWEL, notice, and still emits nothing but cool. Fonzie eat your heart out.
And Lucy Liu is, as always, a treat for male viewers of all ages.
Not merely a good film, but one of the best of its kind.
There is a difference.