I probably won't be the first to say it's a train wreck. Starts out good enough, shows quite a bit of ability to the half way mark, but the last half hour is just a scripting mess. I'd love to explain why, but I can't do it without spoiling. So let me just list some other aspects of the film quite in need of improvement.

First, despite blood splattering, brutally graphic deaths inches from their faces, hostages didn't seem to be all that frightened -- specifically the boy with the computer. Second, that it took the authorities so long to figure the hostage-taker as a stock broker is absolutely silly. We laughed at that. Was it the intent of the script to paint NY authorities as Keystone cops? Didn't come off that way either. Thirdly, at a 7% drop, how much money could this guy really stand to make? If he'd invested more than the 10 mill, as implied by the cops, then he must have had a great deal of cash already. So why risk so much to make just 7% in a day? There's a quick mention that he might have a grudge against the city, and Travolta's character does enjoy jabbing at the city with verbal obscenities, but it just doesn't seem enough to make him into this hardened gun-wielding professional killer/criminal.

And that ending, it's just, well, kind of awful, it made me mad at this film. Mad, because these filmmakers and actors are good. They obviously have the talent, yet they let me go see a film that so falls on its face.

Also, as performances go, Gandolfini, Turturro and Guzman are great actors, but aren't big players in the film. They nearly only cameo here. I also felt that Washington, though acting well, was miscast. We've seen him be strong in this type of role too many times. Therefore, filmmakers should have cast someone we wouldn't expect to be strong. A slightly lesser known actor, perhaps someone like Steven Zahn or Mos Def.

-- Books by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony --