A remake of a foreign thriller, this version is worth your while if you've read the synopsis and the story sounds appealing.
The direction is crisp. Editing and cinematography are generally excellent. The story and script are tight and twisty. The casting is excellent -- Antonio Banderas was cast instead of Nicholas Cage and we can all be thankful for that. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Piper Perabo do a great job as well, as do the supporting players.
Sadly, the sound mix is one of the worst I've ever heard, due to the poorly mixed dialog tracks and one song that is cranked too loud (and not a great song at that). The dialog volume veers wildly all throughout the movie, from barely audible mumbling to deafening shouts. I had to watch this with my controller in hand to be ready to drop or raise the volume significantly at every radical shift.
The fact that two production sound mixers are credited might point to the problem (i.e. -- the first one might have been replaced for being incompetent), but there's no excuse for not fixing it in post so the ultimate blame belongs to the post supervisor and the dozen or so producers listed in the credits who should have insisted on and sprung for a better mix. Yes, post sound is an expensive item but it's also a critical feature.
Ironically, the sound efx are top notch. It might be a small triumph, but the gun shots are the most realistic shots I've ever heard in a movie.
If you like tense commercial thrillers, check it out. Just keep the volume control handy, particularly if your neighbors are sensitive to noise.
