This movie is authentic. Shot on the real streets of NYC, back when the streets were mean and dirty and filled with assholes. Shot in the real attic of the Chrysler building! A New York teeming with crooks and bad cops and exasperated construction workers and lecherous window washers and the occasional Aztec priest and flying serpent god. As a person afraid of heights, the aerial photography is legit dizzying, and a great touch. This movie is the bridge between Jaws and Ghostbusters.

Also, the movie takes a break to let Michael Moriarty piss off a dog by playing jazz piano.

The army literally throws away a soldier. Racked by PTSD from the atrocities he's seen and committed, he attempts to find solace in a community of refugees living in a desert. But they fear and shun him, basically thanking him for his service and shoving him out the door. When they need protecting, he's there to kill for them-- to spare them from becoming like him.

This is a movie about the forever war waged by the United States and the country's mistreatment of its veterans. And it came out in *1998*! This movie gets it.

Also Kurt Russell shoots a guy with a bazooka.

I don't love every Soderbergh film, but I try to see them all. The first three-quarters of this plays like a late period Woody Allen movie, and then it gets weird.