A Chillingly Real Film

Rating: 9/10 (9 May 2010)

At first when I saw the ending to this film, I was like "what?" that's it? He kills the wrong guy and just shrugs at the end. Then it hit me what a powerful ending it was. It was supposed to make me feel that way. This film was not supposed to be about one man consoling himself and finding his daughter's killer, it was supposed to be the real story of a hard nosed man out of Boston, driven solely by revenge to commit whatever acts he felt necessary in order to avenge his daughter's death. The way Lehane drew all his characters and their situation together is remarkable, I don't want to reveal too much. What makes this movie so great, is the fact that Lehane and Eastwood could take a real story and still put a chilling twist and an entertaining plot to it. Not to mention Sean Penn delivers one of the best acting performances I have seen. Everything about his character is so convincing. As a word of warning, nothing about this movie is happy so don't watch it if your looking for a happy-go-lucky drama film. This film gets increasingly depressing as each scene unfolds, but it is such a masterpiece in every way. IF you can stomach it, I recommend watching this film because it will blow you away.