Very well written and acted.

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2004)

The film is an excellent mystery, but like all great mysteries, it gives away the ending at the beginning, if only the viewer could see. The entire premise of the movie is that a young girl is brutally murdered. Though shot, the cause of death is repeated blows to the head from a blunt object, likely a stick or a pipe. An early scene in the movie tells the astute viewer who the killer is. The murder weapon is further prominently featured elsewhere in the movie, only in a different incarnation, and with great irony. Only when the murderer is finally revealed does the viewer see how he has been inattentive. Such is the stuff of true compelling mystery.
Another feature of the movie is it's moral: the hideousness and moral self-imprisonment of vigilante justice. At the end of the movie, a fair viewer acknowledges the absolute necessity of having and trusting a judicial system, even one as flawed as our own.
Sean Penn is especially effective in the role of Jimmy. He is another of those great actors shamefully underused by Hollywood. He makes the viewer feel his anguish, and though his actions are appalling, we still feel empathy for him, and he emerges as a kind of anti-hero in spite of himself.
Once again, Clint Eastwood has demonstrated that he is as good behind the camera as in front. The story is well developed, and the cinematography captures the essence of life in the neighbourhoods of New York: though all the streets lead out of the city, nobody is able to escape them, or the past they constantly thrust into in the minds of their prisoners.
One critical note: I thought the sound quality was poor. Far too often I could not make out what the characters were saying. When using New York accents, it is essential that the director ensure crisp, sharp sound. I didn't realize the kids were reporting that there was "blood in a car" and not "blood on a cop" until much later in the movie. Overall, I highly recommend this movie.