Khoi Vinh’s review published on Letterboxd:
This early Steven Soderbergh neo-noir has been so marginalized in film history that its most prestigious re-release has been in the form of a DVD extra on The Criterion Collection’s release of Soderbergh’s previous film, the worthy but still inferior “King of the Hill.” This puzzles me because revisiting it now, it’s terrific. A remake of Robert Siodmak’s classic “Criss Cross,” it’s crackling with the kind of restless, stylish energy that would become Soderbergh’s trademark. It’s also a showcase for two terrific actors: Peter Gallagher, who demonstrates a robust, leading man gravity that sadly was never fully tapped in his subsequent career; and William Fichtner, bringing deliciously unhinged, Timothy Carey-like menace to his role as the big bad. Soderbergh uses these two performances to build a slow burn dread, maximizing the tension in the looming clash between them. That ominous vibe also benefits enormously by being set against a smoldering visual backdrop that just looks fantastic. Cinematographer Lucien Bernhard, who shot Kubrick’s noir classic “The Killing,” captures a luminous underworld glowing with neon colors that seem to burn through the frame; it’s a template for what would become the distinctive Soderbergh aesthetic.
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