subzerobob This movie is about killing internal motivation, not about killing Emmett Young. The antagonist challenges internal motivation (and shows his Hopelessness) The hero embraces boundless ambition (and shows his Passion)On Becoming a Detective: Requires internal motivation, embracing detective work, ambition, split second deliberation. This movie is great. It is not superb, but it is great! Once again I was lucky that I bought this at the .99c store, but don't be fooled - it is not just the price talking. I almost didn't buy it, because the cover didn't look very promising, neither did the title. This is just to show you not the judge the movie by the cover. This movie is not about "Killing Emmett Young," this movie is about becoming an exceptional detective. This is detective, crime genre, which tends to be polluted with tons of rotten produce. Because they are fairly inexpensive to make, so the return on investment can be nice, but you really need a strong plot twist and great directing to break through. This movie might not hold up on one part of the plot premise - the actual killing of Emmett (we are still left asking the old fashioned :why" and also it looks way to fabricated and unreal to actually be true), but it has great directing style to compensate for it (everything is darkish, grayish like an October Sunday night late afternoon feeling). This movie, coming from a small production company, is a breeze of fresh air. It is not like "Seven" or "Silence of the Lambs" but the detective work and the acting is nearly to the same level. If we must compare the levels, then this will be a match of the highly acclaimed Al Pacino's "Insomnia." I just love it when I see a dedicated detective, being new to the job, trying to impress everybody, and taking his job very seriously. Anywhere in life, the best results come from that state of mind. What is even more interesting, and what makes this movie to stand out, is the choice that Young has to make - should he try to save his own life, or the life of the next victim? Luckily I don't have to make that choice at my job, even though sometimes it comes pretty close (metaphorically speaking). Also I love to see in a movie the small human errors that can indirectly lead to someone's death. Trying to expose that is always difficult, because the very same people that make those mistakes, will be watching this movie, and still not realize what they are doing. I like the message that this movie sends out: persistence will break resistance - think outside the box and always stay motivated. 50% of any work is showing up on time, the other 50% is being able to stay at work until the job is done. And this movie gets the job done for me. I give it 6.5 stars out of 10.

brent_barnhill This movie had some twists in it that kept you on your toes but other than that...it was a boring movie in my opinion. The main character Emmett, played by Scott Wolf was new to me. He didn't seem to act well and seemed like he just got out of college into acting school.What would you do if you were dying? Would you even go to all that trouble...? At least the DVD has some deleted footage. Besides that, I would only rent the movie if you want some unrealistic drama with little action and poor acting.Even the DVD & Movie Guide book rates the movie 3 out of 5 stars. No wonder why everyone is selling this movie cheap...it is because it doesn't capture your attention in a way you would remember it and make your jaw drop.

pifas I bet on paper this movie is way better. The story is somehow intelligent and has a lot of clever twists and turns but, on screen, it has some failures and basically in the overall acting zone. I think maybe it's because the main role doesn't reflect the hard conflicts he's living in and with the exception of Byrne and Roth -both giving strong performances-, the rest of the cast is halfway through the intensity I assume was really needed to make us live the plot. On the other hand, I think the camera does a fine job trying to capture the best angles in order to show the deep core in the story and the settings helps a lot to the looks and mood, full of dark nights, gray skies and very cold buildings. Nevertheless, if on script this idea sounds pretty interesting, the way it is developed by the characters leaves a sensation of underplaying which is something sad due to the somehow edgy material written. You realize how clever the screenplay was once the film is finish, when you reconstruct all the matters and personal motivations in your head. Emmett's mark it's not a despicable thriller but is not a go-see-it-now either. I give it 6/10

senortuffy This is a very good movie by first time writer/director Keith Snyder about a Philadelphia homicide detective who hires a hit man to kill him because he thinks he's dying. The story plays against the background of a serial killer on the loose.Det. Emmett Young is told he has a week before he has to check himself into a hospital where he will surely die a painful death. While sitting in a restaurant having a cup of coffee and looking very depressed, a stranger approaches and tells the young detective that he was a cop once and things can't be all that bad. The two go and have a few drinks and Emmett tells him the truth, that he's going to die soon. Eventually the conversation gets around to what Emmett should do, and the man offers to find someone to kill him for $15,000, and after thinking it over, Emmett decides that's the best way to end it.The stranger isn't who he appears to be however. He isn't a retired FBI agent, he's a sleazy lawyer with a record for fraud, and he approaches an acquaintance to do the hit. The man is an ex-cop who killed a young detective once because he was jealous of losing a promotion to him - the sleazy lawyer got him off.About halfway through the film, Emmett learns there's been a mistake and he was given another patient's diagnosis - he only has a bad viral infection. Now the dilemma, how to find the guy who contracted his own hit and stop things from happening. I won't spoil the ending, but the plot takes a few twists and turns, and things don't turn out the way you think they will.The director scored a major coup by getting two excellent actors to play major roles in this movie. Gabriel Byrne plays the sleazy stranger who arranges the hit, and Tim Roth plays the ex-cop contracted to carry it out. Byrne is an underutilized actor who deserves more roles like this because he's very good. Tim Roth is the one who really stands out, however. He plays the dimwitted killer with dead eyes perfectly. The end scene when he finally confronts Emmett was excellent, and different.Scott Wolf plays Emmett Young, and though he looks more like a choir boy than a big city homicide detective, he handles the part well enough. The rest of the cast is unknowns but they carry the story along very well also.I never heard of this film when it came out last year, which is too bad because it's much better than a lot of the better known police dramas that got all the notice. Definitely a good one to rent and Keith Snyder is someone to watch in the future.