3rd Draft of 5 of a good movie

I watched this the other night because I had seen a behind-the-scenes of the main action sequence (the chase and parking structure fight) and was intrigued enough to watch this on TV. I had wondered why I never remember seeing this released (must have been out for a very short time).

The weakness in this film lies in the screenplay, along with a director who runs hot and cold. I feel the director focused on the action, and on some of the early scenes, and the actors gave it all they could. The MATERIAL does not work as a finished film.

So many other posters covered plot points that made no sense. For me, the film left any semblance of reality after the main chase sequence.

Shots fired on a public street, through a parking structure, gunfire, screaming, hundreds of witnesses. That place would have been surrounded in five minutes with with police and with air support. No police, nothing. (oh we hear sirens after a long time).

The production could have hired a real police consultant for a day or two and put in some real police process. I am not an expert, but the black police officer woman knew all about this "gang"---'what did you do to make them so mad!', but no one was hauled in for investigation on a public shootout that resulted in someone dead. The result of that shoot out would, in real life, resulted in all the gang members in jail.

Not to mention, after the two police officers were murdered (along with Bacon's wife), there would have been such a dragnet that the gang would have been rounded up that night. It is outrageous that they continue to operate out in the open, driving the most obvious cars they possibly could.

Gee, I wonder where these cop killers went...oh, just follow the 1969 Mustang Mach 1! How hard would that have been?

Details, at least a bit of them, make a difference. Some things could have been cleaned up with minor adjustments. Why didn't the killers make sure everyone was dead....well, they could have said to Bacon, "we are keeping you alive so you can live with this", and give it some dimension. These guys are so ruthless, why didn't they take 2 extra seconds and put multiple rounds in the family member's heads? The list of why nots goes on and on, but my point is some of those could have been reduced in their preposterousness if they only added just a line or two to the script!

The foundation of all good films is the writing. This screenplay just lacked too many components.