This River Runs Deep

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2013)

Possibly Clint Eastwoods best directorial effort, this dark- grim story searches the deepest realms of the soul of mankind. And what we discover...is not pretty. Sean Penn won the Academy Award for best actor in the type of strong role that the Academy likes. When Penns daughter is murdered, the fathers attitude of "there must be vengeance" is primitive yet understandable. The flimsy, confused word of Tim Robbins (Oscar for best supporting actor) wife is good enough for Penn, so Robbins must be assassinated. While cops-- Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne-- are finding the REAL killers, Penn is slaying his mentally fragile boyhood friend. The only thing we can be sure of---as the credits go up--is that there will be more blood, more sadness in this suburb of Boston. My only complaint about this movie...is the script. It is too predictable...too flat.