Long before Mr. Hopkins turned the iconic Hannibal Lecter character into movie history, Michael Mann directed the hunt for Lecter's collegue with a lot of style: great shots and ditto photography makes this a very nice movie to look at in the first place.

The first act focuses on the real hunt, but along the road we get more insight in the private life of the serial killer himself.

Actually it's all about transformations: not only the killer is 'becoming' another character, but for me, the best part of the movie is the morphing of the detective into the mind of the suspect. How he enters the crime scene, talking to himself, even shouting sometimes, fantasizing how and what the killer could have thaught, which also eventually leads to the final clue. Very impressive, although I was a bit underwhelmed by the shootout, that felt a bit out of place.

Supported by a lovely retro 80's score and soundtrack, and filled with Mann's style signatures, this is a good looking, well-acted, cat-and-mouse serial killer hunt, where in order to catch the cat, the mouse has to think like one.