This is an eminently forgettable whodunit film.  Clint Eastwood was its producer, director and hero (of course).  I would rate this as standard TV show quality and that s too bad, because the plot line is interesting and it does have some unusual twists.  That means it probably makes more sense to read the novel by Michael Connelly.

        Eastwood plays Terry McCaleb, an aging FBI agent who has a heart attack chasing a perp and receives a transplant from a murdered Latino woman.  This is the set up for the story.  But right from the initial chase, I kept wondering why McCaleb never had any help and never seemed to want any even when he needed it.  The loner mystic worked for Shane and dirty Harry, but it was problematic for an intelligent old FBI guy in downtown L.A.

        One important issue did pop up, i.e. the case against 3-strikes that after 2-strikes the perp may as well kill all the witnesses.  I liked Eastwood s honest portrayal of someone his age.  I also liked the ethnic diversity in the film that characterized the L.A. demographics.  I liked Wanda de Jesus as Graciella, the murdered woman's sister, Tina Lifford as detective Jaye Winston and Jeff Daniels as Buddy Jason Noone, the boat bum. Angelica Huston was overdramatic in her role as Dr. Bonnie Fox.  Paul Rodriquez didn't make a believable detective Arrango.

        Some annoying plot line issues; the villain has to shift character in order to fool the audience; a transplant recipient with a fever is rejecting and will probably be terminal. 

        Eastwood still delivers his lines in a nostalgic cowboy whisper.  For me, his best one liner was his answer to Graciella when she asked him why he lived on a boat and he answered, ``Because I hate mowing lawns.''