Familiar but somewhat underrated thriller. It's made memorable thanks to De Niro's terrific performance.

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2007)

Gil Renard (Two Time Oscar-Winner:Robert De Niro) is a die-hard fanatic of the San Francisco Giants. Who's divorced, he's trying to be there for his only son (Andrew J. Ferchland) and his job isn't working for him anymore. When he hears that he favorite baseball player Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) is going to play for the Giants. Which Renard was offered $40 Million Dollars to play with the Giants for several years. When Rayburn isn't happy, when a up and coming baseball player Juan Primo (Oscar-Winner:Bencino Del Toro) has Rayburn's baseball number. Rayburn's baseball season turns out to be his worst yet. When Primo refuses to give up his number to Rayburn. Renard takes it seriously and he kills Primo for the number. But Renard pushes things too far, when he saves the son of Rayburn (Brandon Hammond) for drowning and he finally meets his idol. But his idol isn't what he seems to be and Renard kidnaps Rayburn's son. Which Rayburn has to promise a couple of home runs to his son alive. Which Renard might do something unpleasant to his son.
Directed by Tony Scott (Crimson Tide, Man on Fire "2004", Revenge) made an stylish, entertaining thriller with some dark humour and suspense. This film is certainly familiar, because it's not the first time where De Niro plays the psychopath. But De Niro is so good in the lead, he always do sometimes different. When he plays the psychopath each time. Snipes is good in the movie as well. The film has John Leguizamo and Ellen Barkin in fine supporting roles.
The original DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an strong:Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The DVD only feature is a collector's booklet. This thriller was an box office disappointment, probably due of a bad release date and bad marketing as well. Mixed reviews didn't helped the picture as well. De Niro's creepy, menacing, darkly funny performance makes this forgotten film worth watchable. This movie makes good use of songs from bands like "The Rolling Stones" and "Nine Inch Nails". Watch closely for Jack Black in some scenes as a Broadcast Technician. Based on a novel by Peter Abrahams. Screenplay by Pheof Sutton. Panavision. (****/*****).