Violence instead of story

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2004)

It's relentlessly grim and violent - it seems like every scene has to have at least one death in it. They aren't big Civil War battle scenes, just one scene after another of small, ugly events taking place in locations where nobody would ever find out about it. It's almost like a bad old Western, but tucked away somewhere in the hills of North Carolina. Memo to Hollywood: a good story cannot be composed of a series of unpleasant events! Supposedly, it's also a love story between Jude Law's and Nicole Kidman's characters, but there is no real chemistry between the two and very little justification for their "love." Kidman looks too glamorous anyway, in the environment the film is set in. You get the impression that her stylist was never more than a few feet off camera. Jude Law does just fine in his role though. Renee Zellweger brings life to the film in the second half, but not really enough to save the movie overall. Just watch the scenes with Zellweger in it, and fast forward through the rest - you won't miss anything of value.