I don't know why this movie was so appealing to me, but it was. It's a blend of action and drama, two seemingly opposing genres, yet the director pulls it off magnificently. The movie has the same feel as "Collateral," an 80's urban, noire style, but you just don't know where it's going. The characters are familiar, the psychopath who craves stability (sidenote,what is it about psychopaths that crave stability? From watching Dexter to this, I find the subject fascinating), the fragile single-mother rene-zellwegger type, the adorable kid, the just-got-out-of prison husband, yet the story is nothing of the sort. Ryan Gosling gives a superb performance switching between a psychotic Christian Bale and charismatic Noah Wyle.

This, to me, represents an Indie. Usually, I hate Indies. Why when I hear a guitar strumming in the background of the opening credits am I compelled to turn it off? Indies, to me, represent a credo that I simply don't agree with, namely, that it's okay to accept one's pitiful station in life. All Indies seem to share this common loser thread. It starts with the character in a shitty situation, things happen, main guy/girl fails, main guy/girl learns that it's okay and embraces their still-shitty lives. Fuck that! But this Indie was different. Though he fails, i.e. doesn't get the girl, goes back to shitty life, he accomplishes something noble in the process. He doesn't merely accept his shitty plight, he has no choice, and we understand that if he could get the girl, he would. So for that this is the best Indie I've seen to date. Actually, it's the first Indie I've ever liked. A-