Publisher: CinemaSerf June 9, 2024
Well there's certainly nothing original here, but it's still not a badly executed crime drama that sees spunky young journalist "Pollack" (Justin Timberlake) fall out with his boss "Ashford" (Morgan Freeman) over some sloppy article he wrote about a man convicted that he doubts is guilty. Indeed, he is convinced that there are some crooked goings-on here and determines to investigate. This is a dangerous path to follow, though, as swiftly he and his girlfriend are on the end of a nasty beating and are only saved by the timely intervention of "Deed" (LL Cool J) whom by now we know is part of the specialist police FRAT squad, and they are the folks that seem to make the rules up as they go along. Soon "Ashford" starts to believe his young reporter and things get even more deadly for just about everyone. For some inexplicable reason, auteur David J. Burke lets the audience in on pretty much all of the secrets right from the get go, so there is precious little jeopardy as this set piece narrative unfolds. Timberlake looks good, Kevin Spacey features competently as the investigator of the investigators and Freeman sinks some Scotch meaningfully, perhaps to alleviate the predictability of the whole thing. It's well put together and to be fair, the writing isn't the worst - but it just comes across as a market research exercise to see how the public react to JT (keeping his clothes on). Instantly forgettable, sorry.