the best laid plans of..............

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2006)

i don't see what everyone is all up in arms over this movie about. true the actors do fine jobs in their given rolls but the movie seems like a cross pollination of rocky and Of Mice And Men. The hints that are dropped throughout the movie of what is coming at the end seem pretty clear and so the end doesn't come as much of a surprise. Clint Eastwood is great as Burgess Meredith and Morgan Freeman plays the same roll he plays in every movie, that of the aged, wise, and world weary man with hints of narration. If Freeman wasn't so good at playing the roll it would be unforgivable but try seeing if his roll from Glory, or Se7en, or Shawshank, or Unforgiven, or Kiss The Girls, is any different.....
What really leaves a foul taste in the mouth and holds this movie back is the utter lack of reconciliation. The only bit of it comes between Freeman and a cocky young boxer. I'm shallow i like vengeance in film and too many characters do to many evil or annoying things without some sort of closure. The dirty boxer, the ex-con punk kid, the lazy mother, et cetera.
I thought it was a good movie but certainly nothing to salivate over, and multiple viewings i doubt would add much. 7 out of 10