Slimy, ugly, hideously amoral people doing their thing.

Rating: 3/10 (21 October 2007)

The current market's hunger for this type of film baffles me. The fact of the hunger itself is not disputable. People want to experience the dark side of humankind up close and personal. There is a desire, expressed $9 at a time at the box office, to get within smelling distance of the most unsavory of characters. I have endured this type of film in the past with a sense of responsibility to have open eyes to the world around me. A sense that by understanding these ideas, issues, and people I might come away with some sense of how to make my world better. This was not a film for that.
Without question, both of the brothers Affleck have proved their ability to do their assigned jobs. Casey carries the movie with no false moments. Ben's turn as director proves he knows how to tell a story with a camera. The problem is with the story itself.
Without getting into spoilers or summarizing the plot suffice this review to say that the movie raises the question, "What does it mean to do the right thing?" It does so brutally and paints a picture of a world I don't know why anyone would want to live in.