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Motives are the thing here, and the film sharply reveals each character (including a number of small supporting roles) in minute detail as the puzzle pieces fall into place. Each person is a bundle of complex emotions and frustrations, dealing with side issues that profoundly affect the central mystery. And every member of the cast is fantastic. Pacino gives an astonishingly internal turn as a man tortured by his conscience, trying to bend the rules without losing his integrity. Or maybe it's too late for that. He knows that there are only two reasons why he can't sleep at night: either he's done something wrong or there's a piece of the puzzle missing ... but which is it? Nolan brings out these ideas with insinuating camerawork, sharp editing, clever music (by David Julyan) and a terrific use of the setting as an integral part of the story. This is a tightly woven film--suspenseful without ever being terribly exciting, a slow psychological burn that grips us with its sheer intelligence, even though it's rather slow and listless. And it's also, at its core, a standard cop drama, complete with the climactic crescendo of violence. But by then we're completely in its spell.