• Friday, August 27, 2004

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  99 min

2004

When Dallas FBI Agent Thomas Mackelway violates serial killer Raymond Starkey's civil rights during an unorthodox arrest, Starkey goes free and Mackelway is demoted to a remote branch of the agency in Albuquerque. His first day on the job, Mackelway investigates the murder of a traveling salesman Harold Speck, which turns out to be the first of three seemingly random killings. Or perhaps they are not random at all; the last to die is Mackelway's nemesis, Raymond Starkey. The assignment consumes him.

His past mistakes haunt him. His head throbs constantly as he tries to find the link between the victims that will lead him to their killer. The case becomes increasingly gruesome and patently personal. This does not go unnoticed by his unflappable partner Fran Kulok, who knows of Mackelway's past and the demons that afflict him. Like Mackelway, she becomes drawn into the labyrinth of chilling clues, all of which point to the enigmatic Benjamin O'Ryan. O'Ryan clearly has a connection to the murders, a connection he flaunts; quite possibly, he may also harbor a sinister link to Mackelway.

Goofs

• Continuity: Nicole DeHuff's character is named "Katie Payton", but in the end credits is named "Katie Potter".
• Continuity: While Mackelway is reading his first fax, some of the pieces of paper on the right side of the bulletin board appear and disappear between shots.
• Continuity: At the end, Benjamin's position within the spiral of stones changes between shots.
• Factual errors: About 40 minutes into the film, Special Agent Mackelway is pointing to a wall on which are many newspaper clippings, etc. Also on the wall is the F.B.I. shield, which is completely incorrect. There are only 9 stars on the shield rather than 13 stars as on the actual shield, the red and white stripes are diagonal rather than vertical, and the motto underneath the shield reads "Fidelity Bravery Justice", rather than the actual motto of "Fidelity Bravery Integrity".

Taglines

• Who's next?

Trivias

• The original 1995 draft by Zak Penn circulated around Hollywood for seven years before finally being made. After several drafts were rejected, the original draft, with several revisions by Billy Ray, was used for shooting.
• $7.5 million of the budget came from the state of New Mexico through an interest-free loan. In return, the state will get 2.5% of the box office, until it makes $90 million or over, at which point they will get 3% of the gross.
• Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise and Ben Affleck were all said to have expressed interest in appearing in the project in the late 1990s. Cruise eventually took up a position as producer on the project instead, but he asked to have his name removed from the credits just prior to release.
• Richard Friedenberg, Ben Affleck, and Paul Schrader all worked on rewriting the script before Billy Ray.
• The movie was funded in conjunction with New Mexico's Film Investment Program.
• Uncredited producer Tom Cruise was impressed with Carrie-Anne Moss for this film that he wanted her in his next film Mission: Impossible III (2006) but due to schedule delays, she had to leave the project.