Director: Clint Eastwood
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 3.0
Out of Dennis Lehane's novel, Eastwood's produced a solid but still flawed work - the pacing is meticulous and an atmosphere of gloom is maintained (Boston looks as dreary as ever - to quote Lewis Black, you need to slit your wrists to see any color) yet there are several lingering questions and problems that prevent total and absolute acceptance: some 'coincidental' happenings, yes, but also unanswered tidbits that make you want to dissect the whole thing in your mind to see if it's a Rolex or a Timex (like, for example, if Sean Penn's relationship with his daughter was so sound, why was she so desperate to leave him? Or am I underestimating the mind of a teenage girl?). Religious symbols (the ring on the 'priestly' man in the car, the cross on the other man's neck in the darkness, the first Holy Communion scene) don't necessarily point to much (the absence of any form of spirituality in the world? Catholicism's failings?) and one scene with Tim Robbins equating himself with a vampire goes on too long ... but there's just so much superb drama and eerie tension that it's difficult not be a little affected. Penn gives what may be the finest performance of his career, and Robbins' handling of his very difficult role is masterful - their earnest delivery compensates for screenwriter Brian Helgeland's occasionally sophomoric dialogue. And what a screwy place the world is: it turns out that 'Tuco' has since gotten a job in a liquor store and 'Blondie' used the gold to become one of America's most engaging filmmakers ... who, in a Spielbergian move, almost ruins his ending by adding one too many scenes.
