This River runs deep

Rating: Null/10 (7 November 2003)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
Going to back to my comments on Blood Work,where I said that perhaps it was time for Clint to retire.I'd now like to edit that a little,if I may.Perhaps he should take a back seater to leading parts in films,but if he can still manage to helm fine quality filmic material such as this,perhaps total senility hasn't kicked in.
This is the tale of three childhood friends,Jimmy,Dave and Sean.One day,an unfortunate encounter leads to Dave being abducted and mentally scared for the rest of his life.Just under thirty years later,the trio,still living in their childhood home town of Boston,Massachusetts,are reunited under more tragic circumstances.Jimmy (Sean Penn) and Dave (Tim Robbins) have remained close friends but Sean (Kevin Bacon) has drifted apart from the gang and become a homicide detective.His job position,however,is about to play a pivitol role in the tragic circumstances that are about to unfold,when Sean's teenage daughter is viciously murdered.This has a devastating effect not only directly on Sean and his family,but on the local community as a whole.More devastating revelations are made,however,as Sean and his partner Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne) conduct their investigations and uncover evidence that ends up pointing the finger directly at Dave.As Sean struggles to contend with these new findings,the three childhood best friends find themselves inexplicably drawn back together once more to confront not only the present nightmare engulfing all their lives,but events from the past that start to crop their ugly heads up once more.
This is a very deep and intelligent film,which puts a whole new slant on the modern variation of the murder mystery genre and,perhaps unsurprisingly,has found itself the subject of only a limited release in amongst all the bloated,insincere eye candy 2003 has found itself laden with (just shows how much audiences respect their own intelligence,don't it?).Eastwood's direction is stylish and absorbing,another film of his from the legendary Malpaso company,who produced that unforgettable hit of his so many years ago.The performances from all concerned are brilliant and highly emotive.The ending is unpredictable,well scripted and powerfully raw.Much like the majority of the film,really,just especially so.
It's perhaps one notch off perfect.The trauma Dave suffered as a child perhaps could have been played on a bit more.But it is a hugely brilliant idea for a film,very inspired and highly worth your time.And,as an aside,so deep you could probably end up drowning in it.****