Full disclosure: My wife rated this an 8, but since I am writing the review, it gets my rating! There is a lot to like here, but the screenplay / plot / script is much weaker than the rest of the film. It has an engaging premise and great acting from Dennehy and especially Woods, but it seems that several transition and explanatory scenes must have been left on the cutting floor. For example, Dennehy forces Woods to keep proving that he's the bad guy when any normal person can see that early on, so these scenes seem pointless to the viewer. What I realized afterwards is that in the original story Dennehy didn't need more convincing but was stringing Woods along trying to build a case against him. The fact that the filmmakers couldn't get that across means that they lost an opportunity for natural tension and made up for it with more obvious stuff. There are other weak storytelling features that really hurt the film, and it is violent. It's worth seeing for Woods and Dennehy and the gritty 80s vibe.
Review of Best Seller
