1.   Because this blunt, threadbare thriller is more of a blueprint than a book, despite the occasional flourish that undeniably aspires to the literary.

2.   Despite the occasional intelligent flourish, though, the story is irredeemably dumb.

3.   His descent into madness at the treachery and injustice that fills his existence, first feigned and eventually genuine, is largely underplayed with an occasional theatrical flourish.

4.   There even were the occasional rhetorical flourishes.

5.   His camera work also shows occasional flourishes, such as a scene in which Davies appears to be suspended on the wall in a bathtub.