anna nomaly’s review published on Letterboxd:
First viewing since theaters. I wouldn't argue that this is brilliant Singleton, but it has been somewhat undervalued, as it successfully clarifies what he was attempting to do with Shaft a few years prior. The film is broad, with a third act that is both wildly over-the-top and unnecessarily convoluted, but beneath the multiplex gloss lies a winning hangout movie and a gripping revenge thriller, its all-out exploitation vibe tempered only by how warmly these otherwise hard characters regard each other. With such a watchable cast, the premise is impossibly easy to buy into, so much so that when the small-time scores and the snowbound slaughter add up not to Fargo but to Mark Wahlberg mythically Omar Sharif-ing it across a frozen lake to kick somebody's ass, one doesn't ask questions.