Watchable but nothing extraordinary

Rating: Null/10 (18 June 2004)

(minor spoilers) Tim Robbins gives a great performance. Sean Penn is good but not exceptional. The rest of the cast is solid. It has a nice, dark cinematography and good pacing. What bothers me is some story elements and some of Eastwoods directing. The whole device of Bacons characters wife calling him up and being silent on the line, feels strained and awkward. And I'm getting allergic to closeups with slow zooms, here designed to let Penn show his chops. (The whole dialogue on the porch with Robbins and Penn could have played better as a two-shot.) One can feel Eastwood trying to stay away from the most blatant sentimentality, but he doesn't take it all the way, in my opinion. This is still too much "Hollywood" for it to have effect on me. Watchable but nothing extraordinary.