Even Better After It Sits

Rating: 10/10 (10 January 2005)

While watching this, I knew I was seeing a film that was completely engaging. It was paced really well and was top-heavy with wonderful performances. Eastwood is of the school of direction that favors substance over style, yet this film uses shadows and light as tools better than any film I can think of in the last 30 years (Since The Godfather). He also gives, here, his best performance ever. His is a risky performance, as an actor he pushes himself into emotional territory he had only touched on before. Hillary Swank is quite a bit of terrific, as well in a role that is solidly wonderful. She isn't stretching the same way Eastwood is, but is gritty and brave. Morgan Freeman is, like Swank, "typically" good, not reaching as far, but when you're Morgan Freeman, you really do not have to. The film is about choices and consequences, and, three days after seeing this, I cannot stop thinking about the implications of the last twenty-five minutes or so. The sign of a great film is what it does to you after it has a chance to settle in. On that basis alone, this ranks towards the top of a Master Director's list of Great Films. The movie hits you, yet the sting lingers long after. I mean that in the best possible manner.