Too long

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2010)

Jimmy's (Sean Penn) daughter is found murdered and his childhood friend Sean (Kevin Bacon) leads the murder investigation. Who is the murderer?
The film starts interestingly enough with the three young boys in the first scene. However, the momentum is quickly lost as we fast forward to the future and have to work out what is going on and who is who. We then have a drawn out section of the film where nothing happens for about half an hour other than Sean Penn brooding. The cast are good - Sean Penn looks and acts like Robert de Niro, Kevin Bacon is his usual likable self while Tim Robbins gives the most interesting performance as Dave.
The film doesn't need to show the violence so graphically at the end where there is also a piece of philosophical nonsense between Penn and Bacon about what would have happened if either of them had got into the car with the stranger at the beginning of the film when they were boys. It's obvious that no-one connected with the film had actually been kidnapped as a youngster. They are talking crap. Clint Eastwood directs so there is a predictable "vigilante wins" theme to the story. But why should Penn's vigilante antics be any more acceptable than Dave's? There is also an unnecessary storyline concerning Bacon and his wife which adds nothing to the film.
It was left to a friend of mine to explain to me what happens after the film has finished, ie, Bacon's character finally gets Penn. It's an OK film but it's way too long.