The unfortunate fact is that it's more than a little dull when it isn't preposterous.

Mr. Miller and his co-writer, Tom Phelan, manage to get under your skin largely with borrowed implements, though they receive solid support from Willem Dafoe and the resourceful veteran cinematographer Fred Murphy.

There are undeniably arresting moments along the way, thanks to Dafoe's subtly intense performance and the well-crafted visuals.

Any resemblance between these and the real-world practice known as murder--committed for trifling old human motivations like blind anger and money--is strictly coincidental.

Beyond its cool, reflective surfaces and infinite plays with perspective lies nothing -- character, relationships, motives all seemingly irrelevant. Even Willem Dafoe as a haunted cop cannot ground these artfully grisly optical illusions, unconnected to any comprehensible storyline.