Of course, it's refreshing to see Mel Gibson break away from type casting and play a character with few redeeming qualities. Not only is this change of character refreshing, Gibson is quite good at playing the bad guy, making this one of his best performances. The screenplay Brian Helgeland and Terry Hayes is very well written, offering numerous character moments, not only for Gibson, but for the rest of the cast as well. Helgeland's direction is sharp, offering swift pacing, as well as a making the most of the story's ironic twists. The image is crisp and highly detailed, with even the darker sequences rendering faithfully.
Contrast is exaggerated and the film's colors have been purposely desaturated.
The desaturated colors are complemented by the perfectly rendered blacks, which serve to enhance the film's noir-ish atmosphere. Competent DVD authoring disguised all traces of digital compression artifacts. The Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack sports an impressive mix that utilizes the discrete nature of the format admirably. Effects effortlessly pan around the viewer, whether it is across the forward soundstage or into the split surround channels. Gunfire and explosions are effectively reproduced, thanks to the solid bass channel.