Terrific performances outshine the story

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2003)

After this film was over I thought for a moment about what I had just watched because I wasn't thrilled with the way it ended. But I couldn't ignore some of the best performances of the year and it dawned on me that the conclusion of this film was unimportant. The long road this film takes to tell this compelling story is whats important. Story starts out with three boys in Boston during the 1960's who are playing in the street when one of them is taken by a couple of child molesters and abused. Now 25 years later we see what has happened to them and Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) who was abducted is a handyman and lives in the same neighborhood. Also living in the neighborhood is Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) who owns the corner market and he's also an ex-con and married for the second time to Annabeth (Laura Linney). The third friend is Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) who is a homicide detective and separated from his wife. One day Jimmy's daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) doesn't come home and later the police find her body beaten badly and shot. Sean and his partner Whitey (Laurence Fishburne) are in charge of the investigation and this reunites him with his childhood friends that he has not seen in years. Meanwhile, on the night of the murder Dave comes home very late and bloody. His wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) asks him what has happened and he tells her that he was mugged and fought back and that he might have killed the assailant. Celeste doesn't see any story in the paper and after the murder of Katie she starts to think that her husband may be involved. Sean and Whitey during the investigation find out that Katie was dating a boy named Brendan Harris (Tom Guiry) and they were planning on going to Nevada. Jimmy is impatient with the police and with the help from some neighborhood thugs he starts to hear things about who the police are questioning.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Sean finds out that Dave saw Katie the night she died and upon further questions they notice the cuts on his hand. They try and talk to Celeste but she doesn't say much but they can see that she is acting odd. Jimmy finds out about Dave being a suspect and when Celeste has moved out he asks her if she thinks Dave is responsible for his daughters death. She answers "Yes". Sean and Whitey also find out that the bullet in Katie matches a gun owned years before by Brendan's father. This is the 24th film that Clint Eastwood has directed and he shot it in Boston which gives this a real authentic look and feel. Eastwood again shows us that as a director his films are extremely well detailed and each scene seems to have a real purpose to them. The performances in this film are what make this special and Penn and Robbins are the center of this story. Penn portrays Jimmy as a very loyal man who despite his hard upbringing remains someone who grew roots in his neighborhood. He obviously loves his neighborhood and has strong ties to it emotionally. Penn has that hardened look in his eyes and he again demonstrates why he is one of our finest actors. Penn is torn as a character in many ways. As a child watching his friend being taken away by molesters, a grieving father, and then to figure out what to do about Dave. Robbins is at the top of his craft as well. We can see that the events that happened to him have scarred him for life. In every scene that Robbins is in we can see in his eyes the pain that has remained in him. I have to admit that I didn't love this film and the way it ended has to do with it. Towards the end of the film Bacon finds out what Penn has done and instead of acting like a cop he stands there with him and they both pontificate about their youth. It doesn't exactly ring true and I do believe Bacon would have acted in a different manner. And the scene with Linney when Penn tells her what he has done is totally out of the blue. Linney was pretty quiet during the course of this film and then inexplicably she behaves like Lady Macbeth. It just comes across as weird and I thought it was the weakest scene in the film. But as I mentioned before this film is not about what happens. Its where three men who were childhood friends are now thrust together under terrible circumstances and they're loyalty is tested. Eli Wallach who was Eastwood's co-star in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" has a small role as a liquor store owner. Its good to see Bacon in a good role and he's been in so few the last ten years or so. He really needed this part to remind everyone what a very good actor he is. Eastwood's direction is precise and deliberate and he's become a master craftsman at his trade. Even when the story falters some at the end his film is saved by some incredible performances. One of the years best films.