The plot itself is intriguing as we watch Matt dig himself in deeper, seemingly beyond rescue! And Washington plays it well, as you'd expect. It's nice to see him as a sexy, shady character for a change (although the sex is so chaste and awkward that it would seem childish even on TV). While there's a subdued spark in his relationship with Lathan, there's no frisson at all between him and Mendes. Anything would have helped! As a result, the mercurial Cain emerges as the most intriguing character, despite efforts to shove him into a stereotype at every turn. Meanwhile, the film has a jazzy, almost humorous tone that undermines the potboiler storyline ... and strangely improves it. There's even a comic relief character in Billingsley's goofy medical examiner. Alas, everything smacks of laziness, from cheesy production design to appalling dialog and deeply shallow characterisations (the script's fault, not the acting). Franklin's direction is blandly by the book; we know all the plot holes will be ignored, and that there will be a simplistic resolution to the increasingly complicated series of events. There are some nice twists along the way, but screenwriter Collard never makes the most of them. And without characters we can root for (Matt is so stupid we want him to go down!), it's hard for us to feel anything at all.