I am sorry, but this is a really good movie. If you buy into the assumption that the ending is predictable, it is because thrillers end in predictable ways. Nobody can claim they foresaw the twist with the "savior" becoming the hunter. PLEASE DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU DO NOT WANT A SPOILER.Annie was a runaway at 19 from an abusive home. She hitches up with Bill, who later, or always was, a cop. The problem is Bill is no less a psycho than her abusive upbringing. He controls what she does, and abuses her physically and mentally. Enter Tommy, who had also enrolled in Annie's cooking class, and in whom Annie confides. He gently suggests that Annie kill her husband, Bill. Annie is reluctant at first, but is only happy to go along after a particularly bad episode of domestic violence. The murderer would be Tommy, all with the assurance that the hit would be painless and leave no trace. Tommy carries out the hit on Bill, who whether deliberately or accidentally, is able to fight back, leaving evidence that would implicate Annie.What Annie does not know is that Bill was always a target for Tommy who is a professional hit-man hired (presumably) by a drug gang which was busted by Bill and two colleagues. Tommy had already killed one member of the gang-busting trio of cops. Bill was his second. The third cop, Clark is being looked at as a possible suspect, mostly because Annie had disappeared in the meantime, and his supervisors suspect that because Clark is close to Annie, they were lovers. After killing Bill, Tommy lures Annie to his den with the assurance that this would be his last job, and he and Annie would flee to China. But Tommy scares Annie enough that she does her own snooping and realizes that she is in a deadly situation. While Tommy was planning to kill the Clark, Annie is able to alert him. Together, they finish off Tommy in a messy finale. It is a well-acted movie. It is particularly violent and disturbing. It delivers the message concisely. Why it didn't garner more accolades is beyond me. Perhaps it is being rated by jaded people who have seen a lot of this kind of movies and are not impressed. Me? I was.

I like the settings and the characters. Its quite the complex part writing a thriller to give it a good "picture". But I can't take if they start punching loopholes into the story to accommodate the writing; I can't stand characters that seem to be three dimensional beings starting to act strangely to "fit" into schematic story development. But when you start to lower the expectations and give "into the flow", the result is quite entertaining. Harmon and the other cast deliver good performances for the "setting" and I have to admit, that the the showdown teared me more than I hoped. If you catch it on TV in the night and like to watch some easy schematic thrill with a little end surprise, you won't be disappointed - I have seen *much* worser. But I wouldn't take this out of a DVD-rental store... 5-6 Stars.

Standard B-movie fare. But strangely watchable. Caroline Goodall is kinda babe-like.....and the plot has a decent enough twist. Gotta wonder, is Goodall the sister of Jane Goodall of chimpanzee research fame? Looks similar. But her sister picked chimps better than Caroline picks men. 5/10. Just barely worth renting on video if you have seen everything else.

Predictable but fairly well-made battered wife movie. Mark Harmon has a nice touch of menace to his character. The beginning of the movie takes away all tension at the end by basically showing the results of the climatic scene. I liked Michael Beach as the cop. He just projected a very good-guy quality.