Freeman plays a disenchanted veteran, a burnt-out cop about six days from retirement.
He is a patient, thoughtful man who has seen too much. Pitt, here working hard to lose his Hostess Twinkie rep, plays an ambitious Hostess Twinkie rookie who sees every murder as solveable and every killer as crazy. That is to say, he sees nothing. He might be everyman. Freeman might be standing in for God.