mystifying reception

Rating: 4/10 (10 January 2005)

The good reviews this movie garners never cease to amaze me: I thought it was a steaming pile! Melodramatic, sententious, and oddly macho, this is one of the most over-rated movies of all time. It is "drama" in the worst sense of the word.
The movie is horribly contrived. Eastwood attempts to artificially infuse the film with emotional "heft" by heavy-handedly inserting an orchestral swell here, or an anguished look there.
The only thing "mystic" about this movie is why so many people seem to think it has any depth. It's one of the most unsubtle movies I've seen in a long time.