Nice work everybody !

Rating: 6/10 (13 October 2004)

I had to watch the movie twice. The first time I didn't like it very much, but after seeing it again, I realized why : I never paid attention to the small details that are so important, the camera was annoying and I was pretty sleepy :-) But the second time, I was prepared, so nothing could escape me, not a single detail and I can only say : Nice work everybody! Yes, it is a long movie (more than 2 hours), but it is divided in two separate parts. Creases life with Pita and Creases life without her. The acting is perfect. Denzel Washington plays 3 characters in this movie- first, he's the suicidal drunk, then he meets Pita and she awakes Creases will for life & love (or as Christopher Walken well said: "Pita taught him it was OK to live again.") and the third character is the worst- he becomes this enraged man, ready to do anything to get Pita back. But even in that part when he plays the "bad guy" you are with him, because you can feel his rage, you understand that everything he had has been taken away from him, and this time he will not turn the other cheek! A great transformation from this fabulous actor that never stops amazing me. Little Pita is played by young Dakotta Fanning and believe me, she did an excellent job- you just must love her! She looks so fragile and naive, but in the same time you can see that she is a strong and mature girl who already learned that life is not a fairytale. Walken's performance is excellent like always,so I don't have to talk much about his role- he did a great job...again. The story is a cliché, but the interesting thing is that it doesn't end as the other movies with similar plots. It goes further, doesn't stop when you expect it to, but continues to surprise you till the bitter end. That's what is so good about this movie. It's like many others, but it's still original and unique. There are some things that are not explained well, like why is Crease in such a mess? I know that he was in the army and probably killed a lot of people, even had been tortured, but so was C.Walken and he's doing just fine! The main parts are very interesting and, at times, even amusing. It's a warm story about a man who has nobody and meets a little girl who shows him that despite everything, life still has it's good sides. Quite optimistic. The only thing I didn't understand is the end. This is probably a SPOILER : if the kidnapper said I will give you a life for a life, why is he taking his brother and Crease? That's 2 lives, not one. But then I think- he was so wounded by the end of the movie that he would probably die anyway. There is one thing that most people didn't like, but I found it pretty interesting : it's the camera tricks- the blurring, choppy shots and other visual effects that have been labeled as the "MTV production" or something like that. I didn't find it annoying, on the contrary, I think it gives the movie that something that makes it different and interesting to watch. Tony Scott did an excellent job. I had no doubts about that. All in all, it's a solid 8 out of 10.