Phoenix (Ray Liotta)

REVIEW
A quartet of Arizona cops, each crooked in their own way, are the central characters in this unpleasant but not uninteresting crime drama. Harry (Liotta) is a cop who is also a compulsive gambler. Although he won't welsh on a bet, Harry is not against ripping off a loan shark with his colleagues. Ironically, he is the moral center of director Cannon's misguided film. Phoenix spends half its running time setting up a robbery, and by then the coincidences and double crosses have strained credibility. While the performances by the four leads are intensely macho, it is the supporting players -- Noonan, Esposito and Ribisi -- that make the best impressions. A superfluous relationship between Harry and Leila (Huston) tries to improve the quality of Phoenix, but no matter how hard the film wants to rise from its ashes, it can't help but self-destruct.