I won't try to use fancy film-critic words or imagery. I'll keep this review in the spirt of this film -- compact, stark, economical.
This is like two movies -- the first half in new york, the second half in los angeles. The hitman monologues are, I hope, intentionally funny-campy-ironic. The strength of this crime noir is not plot. Its plot is not thin, but it's nothing to write home about.
This film sings on two points -- the character interplay, and the soundtrack. Yes, Jim Jarmusch will immediately jump to mind. Alarmingly so, as if Jarmusch jumped into a time machine to 1958 and inserted his own movie tracks into this one when no one was looking.
Of course, this film's music was very likely inspired by Orson Welles' The Third Man, from nine years prior to this. Come to think of it, the cinematography of that 1949 classic noir probably inspired this movie, too.
Yeah, the ending seemed off-kilter when compared to the rest of the movie. But its sin isn't too egregious.
Other reviews covered the rest pretty well.
This is like two movies -- the first half in new york, the second half in los angeles. The hitman monologues are, I hope, intentionally funny-campy-ironic. The strength of this crime noir is not plot. Its plot is not thin, but it's nothing to write home about.
This film sings on two points -- the character interplay, and the soundtrack. Yes, Jim Jarmusch will immediately jump to mind. Alarmingly so, as if Jarmusch jumped into a time machine to 1958 and inserted his own movie tracks into this one when no one was looking.
Of course, this film's music was very likely inspired by Orson Welles' The Third Man, from nine years prior to this. Come to think of it, the cinematography of that 1949 classic noir probably inspired this movie, too.
Yeah, the ending seemed off-kilter when compared to the rest of the movie. But its sin isn't too egregious.
Other reviews covered the rest pretty well.