Most great film noir have doomed protagonists fighting against their own destinies. But few are as harsh and cynical as Robert Siodmak's Criss Cross. We know the moment that Burt Lancaster lays eyes on his ex-wife, now married to mobster Slim Dundee, that a happy ending is out of the question. Personally, I found the big twist that Slim and his goons used Lancaster's character the way they did to be predictable. But where the film shines is how Lancaster's ex-wife treats him when he comes to her to flee from the gangsters. Criss Cross resides in a vacuum free from morality as characters betray each other and seal their fates in the process. Like a Greek tragedy, nobody is getting out of this film in one piece.
6/10
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