Flint

Author(s): Marcus Dennis
Location: N/A

"Flint"

Directed by Michael Mann
Adapted by Eric Roth & Michael Mann
Cinematography by Dante Spinotti (The Insider, Heat, Red Dragon)
Editing by Stephen Mirrione (Traffic, Babel, 21 Grams, The Ocean Trilogy)
Score by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke (The Insider, Ali)

Main Cast

Samantha Morton - Grace Flint
Tony Shaloub - Frank Harling
Don Cheadle - AJ Simpson
Gary Oldman - Harry Cohen
Clive Owen - Aldus Cutter
Jean Reno - Mario Silva
Peter Stormare - Aleksei Rykov

Tagline: "Revenge has a new name"

Synopsis: Grace Flint (Morton) is the one of the best undercover agents that the FBI has. But that all changes one day. On an undercover operation, a potential client, Frank Harling (Shaloub) discovers that Flint and her accomplice are feds. Harling murders Flint's partner and almost destroys Flint's face. After a worldwide manhunt, Harling disappears into thin air.

After being coerced back into going undercover by her demanding boss, Harry Cohen (Oldman), to pose as the wife of another agent, Aldus Cutter (Owen), to take down a Russian arms dealer, Aleksei Rykov (Stormare), she is inadvertently given a clue to the whereabouts of Frank Harling. She breaks away from the hold of doing things by the book and pursues Harling on her own.

Flint's bosses Cohen and the reserved AJ Simpson (Cheadle) chase her around the globe before she does something that she will regret. While globe-trotting, they reveal their personal lives to each other, including, the death of Cohen's wife and Simpson's regret over sending Flint on the Harling mission.

Flint's search leads her to Italy, to gain information from a ruthless, but suave French gangster names Mario Silva (Reno). She finds a videotape that nothing is what it seems inside the bureau.

Deception and betrayal challenge Flint's mind and body. And everything is never what it seems.

What the Press would say:

Samantha Morton is given the title of the first leading actress in a Mann film and she doesn't disappoint. Behind Flint's hard shell is an emotional and fragile woman, and Morton displays that perfectly. She is the female Michael Douglas: Able to look strong and weak at the same time. Gary Oldman and Don Cheadle have perfect ping-pong chemistry, bouncing off their characters strengths and weaknesses like the seasoned vets that they are. Jean Reno and Peter Stormare add veteran support in their villainous roles, but Tony Shaloub is pitch-perfect as a the vile and brutal criminal, Frank Harling. He inhabits the role with an aura of filth the film world hasn't seen since Frank Booth. Michael Mann approaches this best-selling novel like a veteran the same he has approached his previous top-notch films: With methodical precision. His auteuristic visuals give this film a noirish feel that many films are lacking. The script, like Mann's direction, is methodical and precise.

Well-acted and thoroughly directed, Flint is the best of the year, bar-none.

Best Picture
Best Director: Michael Mann
Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth
Best Actress: Samantha Morton
Best Supp. Actor: Gary Oldman
Best Supp. Actor: Don Cheadle
Best Supp. Actor: Tony Shaloub
Best Cinematography
Best Sound
Best Editing
Best Score