this modern film noir with it off beat humour and dizzy succession of plot twist deliver a story full of surprise and dangerous character and excellent entertainment from start to finish . it impossible not to empathise with the honest and unassuming hero or to be grip by the way in which he try to navigate his way out of the terrible predicament that he find himself in and so all you can do be fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride . the story of an ordinary guy who make a poor decision and then find that the repercussion propel him into an uncontrollable sequence of event from which he be unable to extricate himself be pure film noir . the same be true of the theme of murder and deceit and corruption and duplicity which be pervasive throughout . many of the familiar noir visual motif be also present and such a the way in which cigarette smoke be lit and the rain soak road at night and the heavily shadow interior and the line of shadow ( create by louvred door ) across people face . michael williams ( nicolas cage ) and an injured war veteran without money or a job and stop off at a bar in red rock and wyoming and be mistake by the proprietor wayne brown ( j t walsh ) for a hit man that he arrange to employ to murder his wife suzanne ( lara flynn boyle ) . michael and a naturally reticent person and do nothing to disabuse wayne of his misapprehension and especially a he could use a job and at first doesn not realise what he would be expect to do . after have be tell what his mission be and be give a $ 5 and 000 advance and he go to see suzanne and warn her about wayne plan . she doesn not seem overly concern about the danger she in and offer michael double the fee wayne have offer and for him to eliminate her husband . michael decide to take the money he would receive from both party and leave town . his plan fail however and when he accidentally drive into a man who be stand in the middle of the road and decide to take him to hospital to receive treatment for his injury . at the hospital and thing get more complicated when it emerge that the patient be suzanne lover and he have two bullet in his stomach . this lead to the local law enforcement officer get involve and the revelation that wayne be the sheriff . from this point on and thing get even more complicated and also decidedly more dangerous especially when the real hit man and lyle from dallas ( dennis hopper ) arrive on the scene . red rock west have some great moment of suspense and ( an example of this be the scene in which michael make his escape from wayne bar ) and also some great performance from it very strong cast . nicolas cage expression be extremely natural and convincing a he react to a variety of situation with anxiety and surprise or uncertainty and j t walsh be also particularly good a a deceptive character who always conceal more than he actually say . dennis hopper be intensely threatening a the vicious contract killer ( a role he play with great gusto ) and lara flynn boyle look suitably cold and calculate a the femme fatale . dwight yoakam also provide some good support and moment of humour in his cameo role a a no nonsense truck driver . incredibly and red rock west be originally destine to be deny a general cinema release but have justifiably emerge from it modest beginning to eventually be recognise a the great movie that it really be .