Another Winner for Eastwood

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2008)

Changeling (2008)
**** (out of 4)
True life story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), a mother whose son is kidnapped in L.A. in 1928. Five months later the LAPD return a kid to her but she claims it's not hers and must fight to try and figure out the mystery along with the help from a Reverend (John Malkovich) who wants to bring down the corrupt police force. Director Eastwood just keeps getting better and better with one great film after another and that trend continues with this haunting and downright dramatic film that has the man doing some of the best work of his career. Once again Eastwood takes his time in telling the story and he plays it out in a rather slow way. I'm not saying slow in a bad way but he does let the screenplay flourish by letting us get to know the central characters and go along with their painful ride. This is certainly true in the case of Jolie's character as we get to see many ups and downs and the actress nails all of them perfectly. Even though she's the biggest "star" in the world there's never a problem watching her as this character as this might be the best thing I've seen her do. She perfectly nails all the emotion scenes and you can constantly look at her eyes and see the sadness in them as she tries to find out what happened to her son. Malkovich is also very strong in the type of role that he does best. The supporting players include great work from Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly and Jason Butler Harner. Eastwood's direction is what really keeps the thing moving because he doesn't take any safe ways out and for the most part he just punches the viewer in the stomach with a honest approach to the material. The subject matter of a kidnapped kid is very ugly as is the big twist that I won't reveal but not once does Eastwood shy away from the material. The ugliness of what happens to Jolie's character also isn't looked away from and this is why Eastwood remains one of the most interesting director's out there. His music score is also very good and adds a lot to the film. Another great thing. Another impressive thing is the film taking place in the late 20's and Eastwood perfectly recaptures this world. All the vintage stuff from the cars to the houses look incredibly well so getting into the atmosphere of the time isn't a problem at all. The film's one problem was the final fifteen-minutes when we get a couple spots, which are set up to be endings, which then turn into another ending. I think the screenplay has a little trouble wrapping everything up but outside of this the film is yet another brilliant and impressive work from its director.