Like his previous Hollywood suspense-thrillers, Barbet Schroeder's latest is entertaining, but doesn't quite break the bonds of mediocrity. Bullock's maverick homicide detective is a crude extension of Clarice Starling, hiding a violent trailer park past behind a veneer of tough-talking and empty sexual congress.
Cliched though she is, Bullock is as likeable as ever, though new partner Chaplin serves as little more than token male totty.
More interesting are the high schoolers they are pursuing. Gosling and Pitt are excellent, their post-Columbine nihilism both sinister and curiously effecting, while the implicit homo-erotic power-play between them adds layers that are lacking elsewhere.
Much, however, is left unexplained, although moments of flair and intrigue build to a diverting, if not entirely surprising, denouement.