Brilliant acting and directing. But forgettable.

Rating: 6/10 (3 July 2004)

Spoilers thar be!
I remember being hyped at seeing this film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last year, as were a lot of other people. Then, for no known reason, Clint Eastwood cancelled and we were left to wait another six months for the film to be released nationwide.
Was it worth the wait? Well, while I've never doubted Eastwood's talents behind the camera (I really liked Absolute Power) there is just something in this film that fails to connect with me.
The story of three childhood friends (Penn, Robbins, Bacon) torn apart as adults after one of them is abducted is intriguing.
Penn is the thug father with a loathsome and heartless wife (Laura Linney), Robbin's is the meek and humble dad with a loving (but totally traitor) wife (Marcia Gay Harden) and Bacon is the investigating Cop who's wife has run away. All of them perform very well, especially Robbin's who has always struggled to shed his 'nice but dim' typecasting. And Eastwood's direction takes its time and builds the story at a deliberate, unrushed pace.
But as soon as Sean Penn's daughter is murdered I lost all sympathy for them. The story falls into darkness as suspicions and tensions mount. Every character gets what they deserve. I had no connection with Marcia Gay Harden at all and her panic and denial at the end is her own fault. Her character was the wife of Tim Robbins' for what appears to be over a decade, she simply would have known her husband wasn't a killer, should never have confided in Sean Penn. Tim Robbins is also to blame for telling lies about how he came home bleeding and shaken.
Sean Penn's character also gets what's coming to him (though it's a bit of a let-down we don't actually see it). He's a bad man and despite his brilliant acting and grief at the loss of his daughter, why on earth would I care about such a despicable man?
Basically, many horrors and tragedies could have been avoided in this story if people just told the truth. Fair enough, there wouldn't BE a story if that were so but the result is a film that I cannot engage with and in the end I just don't care.
The DVD is in great-looking 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound. There are 2 extra discs worth of features (one of them is a soundtrack CD) if you can't get enough. I've had my share of this movie. It may have much greatness to it, but I want no more.