Sarcasm is not wisdom

Rating: Null/10 (6 September 2004)

This was a terrific movie. There were shades of Shakespeare throughout. I am disappointed in the reviews which spiraled into sarcasm. I don't want to further add similar appreciative comments to the justifiably awed reviews by others. I would like to suggest a few things. As to the comment that the movie was homophobic, I find that skewed, if in reference to Dave's abductors. Homosexuals are not automatically child molesters. That assumption is homophobic. The questions regarding motives are too demanding. Human beings are, above all else, unpredictable. There are no neat and tidy explanations in the real world, and I think this movie captures that. Fear of reprisal has made people do seriously violent things, even things they would not have dreamed they were capable of. I would like to suggest Silent Ray's friend actually beat Jimmy's daughter to death, his wild behavior, swinging a gun at the end, shows an unstable character. It is actually believable. I am not surprised a cop would mingle with the underworld equally as well as the "right side of the law". I am not surprised Kevin Bacon's character does not arrest Jimmy, Dave's murderer. You can think many things: sadness, lack of evidence, regret or a personal choice based on a myriad of emotions. The end of the movie left a suggestion that Jimmy's eventual turn in life would lead him to seek a better position in the underworld, a world over which "he could be king", to quote his wife. Something in Jimmy died, during the days of his daughter's death and his choice to murder a childhood friend. You can see it in the coolness of his stance when he sees Kevin Bacon, and both of them know all secrets between them. I think I see things this way because I am nearly forty and I have seen many, many awful and beautiful things. Based on my personal experience, this movie is quite, unfortunately, believable. As for Kevin's wife, well her character is only there to suggest that Kevin's life is filled with his own problems. When Dave dies, she comes home, a little spiritual parallel to a new beginning, with leaving all life's evil behind. Well done.