Bigelow cast the ideal star to headline one of her most underrated films: Jamie Lee Curtis, once again playing out violent and erotic tensions as a rookie NYC cop who guns down thug Tom Sizemore (in his film debut). The incident puts her under the disapproving male gaze of departmental scrutiny while evidence-tampering witness and (psychotic) Wall Street trader Ron Silver insinuates himself into her life, as the director shakes up both gender politics and genre conventions.