u/CourageMuted4662

This was a first-time watch. I didn't know anything about this movie before watching it. The movie starts as a thriller whereby a bunch of people stranded at a motel in bad weather gradually get bumped off one by one. Then at some point, a plot twist occurs , which I won't detail for anyone that hasn't seen the movie , but basically I think your enjoyment of this movie will depend on how you react to that twist. Overall I thought this was a decent movie with some good performances by John Cusack and Ray Liotta, and the motel set and constant pouring rain make for a good setting. I would say however that the weakness in this kind of movie, at least for me, is that once you've seen it once and know where the movie is going, the film would lose something upon repeat viewings. A decent thriller type movie with a twist that didn't really surprise me but didn't particularly spoil the movie either, with some good performances and a nicely atmospheric setting.

I saw this when it first released on VHS and haven't seen it since. Overall, I think this is a pretty cool film. I like the way it is shot - it has its own visual identity with many different camera shots that give it its own style. The performances from Penn, Nolte and especially Billy Bob Thornton are great. Nobody in this movie is a good person, they are all out to get what they can and double cross each other. This leads to some fairly interesting interactions between them and the movie takes a few turns you may not expect on first viewing. The direction and editing give you the real sense of being in some hick town in the middle of nowhere. It's certainly different from most Oliver Stone movies and I give it some credit for trying to do something a little different.