Artifice of a great movie

Rating: 1/10 (26 November 2004)

All the elements are in place - the grand orchestral music, the emotional intensity and serious performances of the actors, the handsome cinematography - even Clint Eastwood directing.
So what went wrong? Well, the problem is everyone is pretending to be in a great movie. Once you look past its artifice, the painfully contrived storyline, the inflated sense of importance, and the pretense of depth come into plain view. Every scene oozes with Oscar-pandering Acting and Directing. You leave with the sense you just watched a film whose Oscar campaign must have begun from the moment it was greenlit. Don't believe the hype. This is one of the worst movies I've seen this year, and that's coming from a fan of the cast and most of Eastwood's directorial work.