Jimmy and Bev have chequered pasts but are now determined to make a straight and honest life for themselves and their new child. Straight life is a struggle but they are starting to get on top when Jimmy is visited by his cousin Ronnie who is still a petty thief. Ronnie begs Jimmy to help him as he is in need of a driver to deliver some stolen cars. The original driver is drunk and incapable of handling the job. It'll just take two hours he says. Torn between loyalty to family and his desire to remain on the straight and narrow, Jimmy decides to help. Alas the two hour job turns into more when the police surprise the trucks as they arrive at the docks. A shot is fired which results in the shooter being killed. Jimmy and a police detective are injured and taken to hospital.

The police lay total blame for the stolen cars, the dead man and the injured policeman at Jimmies feet and when he refuses to reveal the names of the organizing mafia family, he is charged and sent to prison for three years. During his time inside, Jimmy is told that his wife has been killed in a car accident. On top of this, the police have forced him into working with them by wearing a wire so that they can build a case against Little Junior, the head of the local crime family. The sweetener to this deal for Jimmy is the prosecutors word that he will be left alone to live as a free man should he succeed. With little in the way of alternatives, Jimmy is forced to comply and plays a dangerous and delicate game of trying to collect evidence for the police while maintaining his cover with the violent and suspicious Junior. Manipulated by both sides, Jimmy walks a tightrope toward his dream of a return to a simple and straight life.

I found this to be an enjoyable suspense thriller that features good performances from Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson and David Caruso. The tension builds steadily and I really felt for Jimmy as he struggles to keep his head above water and reclaim his family.

Well I'd have to say that this 16x9 enhanced transfer is a disappointment. The biggest fault with this transfer is the presence of an odd moving gauze (Anthony tm) which overlays the whole image and is present throughout. In scenes that take in the sky or anything else with a section of uniform colour, this artefact becomes quite noticeable. I called in the big guns of dvd.net, in Steve and Anthony, to help me identify the cause of this artefact and they have suggested that this is some sort of telecine issue. What ever the cause, this problem is obvious and distracting in places, particularly on larger display devices. It seems that this problem has caused other issues as well as there is a some minor pixelization in many of the backgrounds. The sharpness and the level of detail revealed by this transfer are, as you would expect, reduced by the presence of this gauze but are still acceptable. Other aspects of this transfer are fine. The colour palette is quite natural looking while both the black level and shadow detail are pretty good.

You will see the occasional small blob and the usual tiny flecks as the movie progresses but these film artefacts are not particularly distracting.

This is an RSDL disc with the layer change taking place at 62:26. It is noticeable but as it occurs during a scene change, it is not overly disruptive to the flow of the movie.

I listened to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track and found it to be functional, if un-remarkable. This is a mainly dialogue driven movie and so surround use is limited to support for the score. The subwoofer gets some work anchoring the rumble of heavy trucks and trains as well as during gun shots and explosions, but these moments are few and far between. If you listen carefully some hiss can be heard. Luckily the level is low and even moderately raised voices render it inaudible.

The following extras are available on this disc:

Featurette

Your standard promotional fare with interviews snippets and sections of behind the scenes footage cut together with footage from the actual feature. This one runs for 4:39. Yawn.

Soundbites

This section contains seven short interview pieces featuring actors David Caruso, Nicholas Cage, Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Rapaport. Director Barbet Schroeder and Producer Susan Hoffman are also interviewed.

Theatrical Trailer

Full-frame video running for 2:45. The quality is average.