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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't matter, I'm gonna kill you anyway, January 17, 2001
Considered from the "outer" point of view, this is a pretty good movie. Well-developed, uniquely-identified, memorable characters; excellent acting by all; crisp, often amusing, dialogue; well-plotted and paced with surprising twists and turns, and a surprising climax. The haunting background music (William Olvis) alone is worth the seeing the movie for.But it is on the "inner" level that this movie really struck at me. It is set in Nevada (Winnemucca, Reno, Vegas, Overton - "Where's that?" "It's up by Lake Mead") where I lived for many years. [For those of you who have read much spiritual/metaphysical literature, it is no coincidence that the national mecca of "vice" is a "desert experience". This remark is NOT a put-down of Nevada - amidst such sharp natural beauty, our dilemma is sharply drawn there - and that's a plus.] Somehow the dark, horrifically-empty aspect of modern American life - which is itself especially starkly on view in NV - is precisely nailed by this film. The film might aptly be subtitled - "The Illusion of Love in a Dead Culture like ours". Yes, outwardly, it's about the astonishing betrayals and cruelty everybody - good or bad - will go through to get their hands on the attache case with the mob's money. But inwardly it's about the search for a love that has sunk irretrievably below the surface of one of Nevada's beautiful lakes. If you think this fanciful, tell me this: why, as the winner finally leaves Nevada with the money, was "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" - so movingly sung, torch-style - selected for the final credits? It was, rather, tears that were getting in mine!
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DVD ~ Nicolas Cage
DVD ~ Val Kilmer
DVD ~ Linda Fiorentino
DVD ~ Val Kilmer
DVD ~ Ray Liotta
