Kyle Bodine (Ed Harris) is the lead detective teaching less experienced Lamar Dickey (Benicio del Toro). Kyle is taken with Rachel Munro (Madeleine Stowe). She had hired a private eye to take pictures of her wealthy banker husband Rupert Munro (Charles Dance) cheating. Rachel buys a gun and starts a romance with Kyle. Kyle and Lamar are called in on a domestic abuse at the Munros. While Kyle is helping her leave her abusive husband, she shoots him in self-defense. She fears the perception of her unregistered gun and no witnesses. She convinces Kyle to help her cover up the killing. Kyle and Lamar investigate the missing Monro. Lamar finds surprising new evidences seeming to point to Kyle.
This is very much by the book hard-boiled thriller. The movie moves a bit too slowly for the first half. It needs to start with Kyle and Rachel already in a heated romance. There's no need to waste time developing the chemistry. These are great actors able to sell an already heated romance. They need to get to the killing faster. The tension is all in the cover-up. It's basically a 40 minute setup. This is a bit slow and the tension is not high until the second half. However it has great actors and they keep the movie going.
This is very much by the book hard-boiled thriller. The movie moves a bit too slowly for the first half. It needs to start with Kyle and Rachel already in a heated romance. There's no need to waste time developing the chemistry. These are great actors able to sell an already heated romance. They need to get to the killing faster. The tension is all in the cover-up. It's basically a 40 minute setup. This is a bit slow and the tension is not high until the second half. However it has great actors and they keep the movie going.