Policeman Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) gets involved with seriously disturbed assassin Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin).
That's about all I'll say--the plot is VERY convoluted. I saw this in a theatre in 1993. I was pretty impressed. Seeing it 11 years later I'm not. What looked inventive in 1993 has been done since...and better. This now comes off as an amoral, sleazy, very bloody, very violent and (surprisingly) tedious movie. There's not one likable character in this--I hated everybody. The jazz score got on my nerves quickly and the pointless nudity and extreme violence just annoyed me.
The acting is pretty good. Oldman is excellent (as always) faking a credible American accent. Juliette Lewis is pretty lousy as his mistress--but then, she's never good. Poor Annabella Sciorra isn't given enough to do as his wife--but she IS great. And Roy Scheider is VERY good as the big crime boss. But it's Olin who steals the movie. Her performance is WAY over the top--she's totally ruthless, incredibly sexy and goes full force all through the movie. I'm really surprised her performance didn't get more attention back in '93. The movie just came and went pretty quickly.
I'm giving it a 6...mostly for the acting. It plays like a Quentin Tarantino/film noir cross--a BAD one!
That's about all I'll say--the plot is VERY convoluted. I saw this in a theatre in 1993. I was pretty impressed. Seeing it 11 years later I'm not. What looked inventive in 1993 has been done since...and better. This now comes off as an amoral, sleazy, very bloody, very violent and (surprisingly) tedious movie. There's not one likable character in this--I hated everybody. The jazz score got on my nerves quickly and the pointless nudity and extreme violence just annoyed me.
The acting is pretty good. Oldman is excellent (as always) faking a credible American accent. Juliette Lewis is pretty lousy as his mistress--but then, she's never good. Poor Annabella Sciorra isn't given enough to do as his wife--but she IS great. And Roy Scheider is VERY good as the big crime boss. But it's Olin who steals the movie. Her performance is WAY over the top--she's totally ruthless, incredibly sexy and goes full force all through the movie. I'm really surprised her performance didn't get more attention back in '93. The movie just came and went pretty quickly.
I'm giving it a 6...mostly for the acting. It plays like a Quentin Tarantino/film noir cross--a BAD one!