Perfect - thriller, setting, ensemble, adaptation......

Rating: Null/10 (2 May 2014)

How much more can one wax eloquent about one of the best book-movie adaptations ever made, Ben Affleck's works notwithstanding? Let me try.
It came out in 2003. It was made by Clint Eastwood, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, and was the first Lehane novel that was adapted for the big screen. Its debatable whether or not this is the best adaptation of a Lehane novel, but for me it has scored a 10/10, and I think Eastwood's later work never overshadowed/shot this effort (in a good way, and I've got hope, in spite of the chair). Had quite the ensemble for its time (Its been 11 years already - I feel so old): Sean Penn. Kevin Bacon. Tim Robbins. Laurence Fishburne. Laura Linney. Marcia Gay Harden. Eli Wallach, The 'Ugly' in a cameo. Penn and Robbins both won Oscars, but Eastwood was passed over for direction, and Harden for actress.
Tim Robbins has never been this good, perpetually haunted, with a gleam in his eye that anyone could take to mean anything, putting him out of reckoning for the most trusted person to be around.
Sean Penn, with altogether a different type of gleam in his eyes, that both conveys love, a fierce desire to protect anyone under his care, only dominated by his desire to do whatever it takes to stay ahead, and be the leader of his pack.
Marcia Gay Harden - years of living with, and suffering through ignominy of being associated with scarred people has her continually simmering, and trying to do right, while being as unhinged as her character was in 'The Mist' (OK, not quite That unhinged).
Laura Linney - fiercely protective of her own, yet fiercely supportive of any method employed by her own to make it in the world, her character hides her world-weariness by being tough, and staying with her own like a rock, thick-and-thin, all the way through.
Kevin Bacon - our eyes, throughout the flick - these are the eyes through which the movie plays out for us (the audience), and this character's incredulity at all that unfolding both during his troubled childhood, as well as during his adult years, when abuse-reaps-more- abuse and loops back in a way that is both fatalistic and reeking of poetic justice.
Laurence Fishburne - the only objective one among all of the main characters inhabiting this wonderful yet ultimately poignant tale, but the events succeed nevertheless in punching through his defenses as well.
Considering how well Eastwood understands his characters, and allows them breathing space/time in each and every one of his flicks, even the lesser-known/regarded ones, and with me being a die-hard fan (not very objective, though I would like to think otherwise) of his low-key direction, I still remain surprised that he has not surpassed this work, which leads me to believe that Lehane deserves as much credit for this, if not more. Though both Scorsese and Affleck have made great works out of Lehane's books, this remains the first, and most powerful.
Considering the fact that I had not read the book when the movie released might have a lot to do with how I loved everything play out, except for the ending, this packs powerful punch, like most of Eastwood's great works from behind the camera, and I'll re-read the book, and re-watch this flick to see how my perception has altered since 2003, when I watched this for the first time.