This is a solid enough thriller, certainly better than average, but not exactly a masterpiece. Not sure what went wrong though: there was plenty of suspense, good acting, but still something didn't feel right, and there were a couple of deja-vus that felt a bit unsatisfying.
On problem may have been that the script didn't know whether to focus on the two murderers or on Detective Mayweather's personal problems, and chose to focus on neither... plus many of the scenes with the two guys felt like I had seen them many times before on TV (e.g. how many times have we seen the bad guy with the rich, influential father?). But even those cliches weren't fully explored... it amounts to a script that scratches a bit on the surface, but doesn't ever go deeper. I guess that's where my disappointment came from.
Solid acting from Bullock, who managed to play this introspective and yet tough role very well; it was good to see her cast against her usual character and faring so well. Gosling and Pitt weren't bad either, but still felt a lot like stock characters. Ben Chaplin was cute, but little more than that, R. D. Call never progressed beyond the police boss stereotype, and Agnes Bruckner was just atrocious is all her stiffness.
The whole thing was directed solidly, but apparently without too much enthusiasm by Barbet Schroeder. With some more enthusiasm and a better, more focused script that relied less on deja-vus and stereotypes this could have been a great movie. As it is, it's good, but nothing to get too excited about.
On problem may have been that the script didn't know whether to focus on the two murderers or on Detective Mayweather's personal problems, and chose to focus on neither... plus many of the scenes with the two guys felt like I had seen them many times before on TV (e.g. how many times have we seen the bad guy with the rich, influential father?). But even those cliches weren't fully explored... it amounts to a script that scratches a bit on the surface, but doesn't ever go deeper. I guess that's where my disappointment came from.
Solid acting from Bullock, who managed to play this introspective and yet tough role very well; it was good to see her cast against her usual character and faring so well. Gosling and Pitt weren't bad either, but still felt a lot like stock characters. Ben Chaplin was cute, but little more than that, R. D. Call never progressed beyond the police boss stereotype, and Agnes Bruckner was just atrocious is all her stiffness.
The whole thing was directed solidly, but apparently without too much enthusiasm by Barbet Schroeder. With some more enthusiasm and a better, more focused script that relied less on deja-vus and stereotypes this could have been a great movie. As it is, it's good, but nothing to get too excited about.