Unjustly overlooked thriller packs a punch. It's a sleek, muscular thriller played by a terrific ensemble cast, as you would expect from a team including director Barbet Schroeder, writer Richard Price, Nicolas Cage,Caruso, and Tucci's marvellously slimy prosecutor. Gutsy dialogue, atmospheric direction, lots of night scenes and an uninhibited take on the source material. A crackling thriller that feels unusually attuned to its lowlife characters. Cage, one of the few American actors who gets more interesting from film to film(well sometimes), comes close to kidnapping the picture as Little Junior, a pumped-up but asthmatic thug who, like King Kong, is a gorilla with a wistful air about him.Cage dominates the camera, stealing scenes by the sheer intensity of his inimitable strangeness.Caruso's acting is vivid, but amazingly quiet and internal, and it's fascinating to watch the kaleidoscopically conflicted emotions battle beneath his controlled surface.