After the lightweight Hollywood satire State and Main, writer/director David Mamet cranks up the suspense with his crack at a genre picture: the one-last-job heist. Gene Hackman is the boat-building master thief planning retirement with moll Rebecca Pidgeon while his method of escape waits in the harbour. Typically, caper organiser Danny DeVito foists nervy nephew Sam Rockwell on Hackman's regular crew and the seemingly infinite double-crosses start rolling from there. As ever, Mamet's overcooked dialogue crackles, especially when delivered by Hackman, DeVito and fellow thief Delroy Lindo, and his eye for plot detail is acute. If there is a weak link in this otherwise gripping, intelligent and patient tale, it's the climactic shoot-out where a more skilful action director than Mamet was required. Prime stuff, if easier to second guess than the superior Spanish Prisoner.