What starts as a tale of a mother looking for her child becomes a larger tale of police run amok

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2008)

(Spoilers Ahead)
Clint Eastwood's first of two films for 2008 is a large scale story of a woman looking for her son and what happens when she collides with the the people who are suppose to be keeping the peace and protecting the innocent.
Based on what is known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders but with some changes to the events, the film is nominally the story of Christine Collins, a single mother who's son Walter goes missing. Collins played by Angelina Jolie does everything she can to draw attention to her plight in the hopes that someone will help her find her son. When a Boy across the country turns up saying he is her son she is at first thrilled, until the boy arrives on the train and she instantly realizes that the boy isn't her own. No one will listen to her except Rev. Gustav Briegleb, played by John Malkovich. Briegleb has it in for the police and their tactics and he uses his pulpit and his radio show to take them to task. However as time goes on Mrs Collins is seen as a problem and is promptly sent to a mental institution. From there the story spins out as it comes to light that the fate of Walter may not have not a pleasant one and the plight of Christine reverberates on a larger scale.
Oddly promoted to focus on the Christine Collins story which is the line through the story on which everything hangs, this is actually a much larger story than is advertised. Most of the scenes that were used to promote the film come from the first hour, during which time the focus is squarely on Jolie. The second half of the film focus's on the discovery of the murders and how that coupled with the publicity about Christine shake Los Angeles and its police force.
Angelina Jolie is good, but not great as Christine Collins. I do feel for her and her plight but there are times I found the performance, like some of the first hour, rather one note. I do think the problem is not so much with Jolie rather with director Eastwood (and writer J.Michael Straczynski) who is a much too lax in the telling of the early part of the story. I found that I could guess the shots he was going to use and I knew what we'd see, say a young boy running out side the trolley. He's using clichés to set up a complex story and it hurts the film since there are times the film doesn't feel special. Unfortunately Jolie's performance never fully recovers and its only in the final passages of the film that I think she recovers her footing.
About an hour in as the story begins to move away from the Jolie story and we begin to see how larger forces are at work. First there is a dangerous killer on the loose and secondly the police begin to have to backtrack and circle the wagons to protect themselves. Its here on the larger stage that the film begins to come to life. certainly the story of Christine and her search for Walter remains the primary focus, but the story takes on larger implications which make the film very much better.
The film varies from the actual story in a couple of ways which I won't get into here since that would spoil things if you haven't seen the movie.
To be honest I had a hard time getting through the first hour of this film. There were moments where I cared but for the most part I kind of felt I knew where it was going. I don't blame it on knowing the story, rather I think its because, as I said earlier, most of the promotional material, clips and stills and such, all come from the first hour. Its like watching a movie after the commercial gave everything away. However once the second hour rolls around and the story begins to move away from the scenes that I had seen a dozen times before the film picks up momentum and cruises along nicely to the end.
This is a good film by Eastwood and worth seeing. I don't think its one of his best films, but then again it doesn't have to be.
7 ish out of 10.