Just saw it...

Okay, so I'm obviously late to the party here as the film has been released for 8 years now and I just got around to viewing it...

I enjoyed this film because of the two main characters. From the very first scene when the mysterious Sydney approaches John outside of the coffee shop and offers him a cup of coffee and a cigarette I thought, "Alright...my kind of guy..."

It was also obvious to me from that first scene in the coffee shop that something was being kept from the audience. We were not privy to the omnipotence that is so commonplace in contemporary cinema. This feeling was cemented in me once the time lapse occurred and two years had past.

At this point I was really into the character development up until the motel scene. Then I thought to myself, "Who buys a hooker in Reno?" No, seriously. That whole scene was a bit too contrived for me - particularly Sydney's reaction.

Then, in the scene when this knowledge is finally revealed to the audience it felt like a stock Hollywood script finally surfaced from this hour-long character development only to leave almost no resolution at the end.

I really enjoyed the two main characters and the movie in general up until the motel scene, but my interest definitely waned in the final thirty minutes or so of the film. I'll definitely give it another go to see if I can get anything more out of it, but essentially it seems to be sending out the message that, "Getting away with murder is possible." Wait, I mean, "When out whoring up Reno, get the money up front." Either that or "Everybody has done bad things in the past that they try to cover up but you can't let that bother you as long as they treat you well in the present and promise to do the same in the future."

I haven't decided which one yet...