Up there with the Coen brothers' finest work.

It takes place in an artificial world constructed largely from the mythology of other movies, and, though it's both seamless and stylish, some find it a little too self-conscious for its own good.

Loosley based on Hammett's novel and Chicago's Capone-O'Bannion gang war, the film is more impressive visually than thematically, though new angle of placing Irish, Italian, and Jewish gangsters in the same tale is intriguing.

It's arguably the US mainstream's first art movie since Days of Heaven; and quite wonderful.

No review available.

Perhaps the best the Coens have to offer -- stylish, funny, harrowing and brilliantly shot.

The Coens play this icy gangster tale mostly straight, but they can't help throwing in a few of their dark, comic explosions; it's one of their best, most cohesive films and it holds up to repeated viewings.