A Directing Achievement!!

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 1999)

How did Stone do it? He took material that if you gave to ten other directors they couldn't make anything better than a shoe commercial and turned it into a riveting detailed great piece of film. Detail, detail, detail. This movie theorizes so well, even if it is all Stone's theories, that it's hard not to feel it's ALL true. Casting was also some of the best I have seen of a movie made in the nineties. Costner was solid, Oldman unbelievable, Pesci wild, Jones Oscarworthy, Candy a break from the norm, Bacon best of his career, Lemon great small role, and even Stone's kid (who played Jasper) got in there. Oldman was great. From a guy who has a thick British accent WOW!! Everything about Oldman's Lee Harvey, the twitches, irritability, shadiness, was perfect and just how I could picture Oswald. Sutherland as X was great, perfect role. I can't say enough of Stone's directing though. What really did it for me was the final court room scene. Most directors would have languished too long in the scenes leading up to Garrison's final speech (Sleepers was a big violator of this, it killed that movie), but Stone understood that you can't slow down the movie at this point, keep the frenzied pace and then let Garrison give you the perfect climax of what has been discussed at length in the plot. That is how a good courtroom scene is done and done effectively. The flashbacks were well used too. Stone showed you what was needed to make your mind believe it even more because instead of just saying something happened and having you take time to visualize it Stone gave you a little peak. It also allowed you to better place the characters to the events that were being discussed. Stone realized the size of information and events he was throwing at you in a short period of time, this was very apparent in the scene with Sutherland's X. This is a great movie that details one of the most significant events in our history. An event that truly altered our countries path. The best part was that it was presented in a grand fashion and told with great vigor and life. Bravo!