While not a great movie -- or even a good movie, according to most
critics -- Gary Oldman's performance as corrupt cop Jack Grimaldi is still
highly regarded. He pulls off a credible New York accent in narrating the
over-the-top ... moreneo-Noir about a cop with a distrusting wife, a frustratingly
stupid mistress and a side gig turning over stool pigeons to the Mafia. Swedish
actress Lena Olin is scary sexy as Mona
Demarkov, a Russian seductress/assassin who leads Grimaldi into a spiraling
morass of moral degradation and violence. She uses a voice so husky it makes Kathleen Turner sound like Jennifer
Tilly, and legs that are dangerous however she employs them to reduce Grimaldi
to a quivering wreck. Getting a toe hacked off by mob boss Roy Scheider contributes to the
character's devolution from cocksure everyman cop to desperate survivor amidst
ever increasing spurts of blood.
