AllMovie

Gabriel Byrne and Tim Roth are true to their pledges of doing big-budget films for the money so they can also do promising low-paying indies like this. First-time director/writer Keith Snyder concocts a richly detailed police procedural that never seems derivative, although little of it is truly new as Detective Young navigates public documents and tracks down hearsay to learn the identity of his unknown hitman -- and then talk him out of the job. Cinematographer Lawrence Sher and editor Caroline Ross sustain a vivid mood of quiet desperation that heightens the emotional impact. Scott Wolf, previously a TV lightweight, vanishes into his role while shouldering the load as the lead actor, supported full-spiritedly by Byrne and Roth, who do anything but phone in their performances. Clearly, the cast is motivated by the material. It's not The Usual Suspects (another Byrne indie), but it will appeal to the same potentially vast audience looking for challenging material with a twist.