Good to see you, Theo

Rating: 7/10 (27 October 2003)

Greetings again from the darkness. The first thing that hit me after this movie is, why doesn't Sean Penn make more movies? He reminds of Deniro from 10-15 years ago. Very powerful screen presence and so much emotion without the hystronics of lessor actors. The next thing is that this is no whodunnit! The answer to that is given away very early in the process, so for me it became a study of blue collar northeastern family and friendship. Very strong ties for this area. No other geographic part of the U.S. compares. Watching the Savage brothers "serve" Penn's character is chilling, all the while knowing he would do the same for them, if the tables were turned. Other than the lack of suspense for the killer, the film's next biggest flaw is Timothy Robbins. He tromps around like a psycho-Herman Munster. I never believe this is a grown-up version of the boy who survived the tragic childhood incident. In every scene, Robbins is over the top and almost laughably awful. The incident itself actually seems secondary to how the 3 boys grow into adults. What could have been the defining storyline is actually a weakness in the script. All that said, Clint Eastwood again directs a beautiful piece of filmmaking. His pace, color and music is near incomparable. Only Scorcese is better. First movie in awhile where Kevin Bacon is actually not some idiot in an unbelievable situation. As a police detective, he turns in a very realistic cop in a tough situation. His partner, Laurence Fishburne, is at times too aggressive, but it plays well against Bacon's pent up frustration with the case and his wife. What a joy to see Eli Wallach (Clint's buddy from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) as a years-later witness to a liquor store hold-up. Spencer Treat Clark (the kid from Unbreakable and Gladiator) has a key non-speaking role and Marcia Gay Harden performs well as the what to do wife of Robbin's character. Although, seemingly out of place, I really enjoyed super-actress Laura Linney's final two scenes. The bedroom scene with Sean Penn was very powerful and her exceedingly cold stare down of Harden at the parade gave me the willies!! It almost seems there must have been another Linney scene left on the cutting room floor, as her character gave no indication of this inner strength prior to this. Overall, another well made Eastwood movie with a weak script and terrific acting by Penn and Linney.