Near perfect, if watched on television.

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2007)

When my dad first rented this movie, we watched the first hour or so together, and when we stopped for the night I was left wondering how it earned an R rating. So far, it'd been nearly clean enough to be a PG film, or at least a PG-13, instead of its harsh R.
Then my father watched the second half, without me, and informed me it was so violent that, pretty understandably, at age 14, I wouldn't be allowed to watch the rest (though he told me how it ended). A couple years later, I caught it on TV and become absorbed once again. I kept waiting for the horrendous violence my father warned me of, but it never happened. That's when I realized most of it had probably been edited out for TV.
That's the beauty of watching engaging films that are peppered with a touch too much violence for the young or the squeamish on TV. If I had seen the rest of the film on DVD, I might have wrote it off as being a bit too rough, but on TV, it was near perfect.
The cast is quite stellar, and I especially enjoyed Denzel Washington (in what I believe to be one of his best performances) and the relationship between his Creasy, and Pita. I also, was quite mesmerized and impressed by Radha Mitchell's solid performance, an actress whose name was unfamiliar to me, at the time.
Just as engaging as the cast though, is the cinematography that is both unique, in a most excellent way, capturing a sort of pressing heat and urgency, as well as, the bustling spirit of Mexico City.
All in all, worth a watch, especially if your fans of any of the main cast who give concrete performances or a fan of director, Tony Scott.