Flawed but memorable

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2000)

Despite way too much so-called "fictionalizing for dramatic effect" in the third act, Mann's riveting whistle-blower epic is high drama of the finest pedigree. It's a soft subject matter for the creator of Miami Vice and Heat (minimal violence, no one dies, no one really gets hurt), and Mann has been roundly accused of self-importance because of his overblown styling. The movie is indeed too long and too tumultuous--but if this is a product of a filmmaker's self-importance, then I wish more directors would wake up and start thinking more of themselves.