Director: Joel Schumacher
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 3.0
Existential one-act play disguised as Hollywood thriller - everyone calls it "quick and dirty," and they're absolutely right, which makes me wonder why there aren't more being made just like it (maybe all that over-thinking is what's killing junk like Chicago and Traffic). In fact, you could almost interpret the whole movie as a gun to the pomposity of large-scale moviemaking: Colin Farrell represents phoniness and glam (big movie studios) as under the scope of non-entity Kiefer Sutherland, demanding a return to honesty and professionalism that's so sorely lacking. For the talk of morality and ethics on Sutherland's part, the movie is pretty subversive, since in the end the barrier between good and bad is almost invisible, and the anticipated happy ending isn't forthcoming. Farrell holds up the movie quite well (though his emotional epiphany has no effect due to time - and character development - constraints), thereby warranting the media attention and magazine coverage he's been getting. I'm honestly surprised this movie doesn't have more fans, considering its open-ended nature....
