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Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman

Runtime: 137 mins

This is not Clint Eastwood’s best but it is more of a fine tuning to some of his greatest work to come like Letters from Iwo Jima and Million Dollar baby. This film is based on several performances that outshine the scope of the director. The writer also gives in a lot of output to this film especially in the way of Kevin Bacon’s character. He is someone torn between a failed marriage and case that brings his friends into the fray. It is like many of the writer’s novels that deal with abuse towards children. The film takes a lot of time to build unwanted tone and tempo for what is about to come. The character played by Sean Penn takes quite sometime to burst into the scene. He brings to this film much needed relief in form of a great performance.

Sean’s character’s daughter has her first holy communion and is one of the happiest moments in her life. But all this is about to change when a calamity befalls this family. Something they are not really prepared for. But this creates one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of cinema Sean Penn looses it. It almost feels like he can’t breathe with all that has happened and it takes quite a few people to stop from this unimaginable tantrum. That moment is what probably made him win the Oscar that year so don’t miss that because there is nothing after that is as great as that moment. From here the film turns into the most boring investigations I have seen on the silver screen. Even though there is a lot of realistic plot twists but the drama is almost thrown out the window. It makes us wonder why this movie so highly rated. But to come down on from the big crescendo and write a review from there is really difficult for anyone. But I think I should try and write something substantial or at least thoughtful.

The film is not nearly over after that moment I just described. There is another seasoned performer in this film who plays the suspected killer Tim Robbins. He brings into the film some of the more sensitive moments. But many people might not know that all the actors in this film that is Kevin, Sean and Tim share a very similar style of acting. So at any point in the movie one of them could have broken out. But I guess this time it was Sean’s turn to take the gold. But to tell you the truth the moment Sean Penn creates still sort of lingers on because of the tone that Clint has used in this film. It was just not enough for me.