That big stadium in the sky.....

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2012)

Gil Renard is obsessed with baseball. Because he is from San Francisco he is a fan of the Giants, by the beginning of the season the Giants have signed all-star centre-fielder Bobby Rayburn to a 40 Million dollar contract.
But, things do not go well for both Gil and Rayburn. Rayburn is slumping and Gil loses his job and eventually his wife and son.
Gil goes deeper into his obsession with Rayburn and takes matters into his own hands. He believes that Rayburn is slumping because of another Giants player named Juan Primo who is playing well.
Gil secretly helps him out. But when Gil feels that Rayburn is ungrateful, Gil kidnaps his son.
Now, Rayburn must perform at his best at the last game of the season in order to save his son...
I don't know why, but I have a lot of love for this movie. It's not perfect by any means, and Scott has really gone to town on the editing here, but everyone has a film that they love that was critically mauled.
De Niro is at this archetypal best here as Gil, a paint by the numbers psycho, who isn't spontaneous, but predictable, and still very creepy.
Snipes proves in this that the mid nineties were the best for his career, as he puts in another great performance, and during the final third, really shows depth and emotion.
There is great support from Leguizamo and Barkin, and the film is made slickly with a brilliant soundtrack, but if you look closer, there are lots of faults in this.
It's one of those rare occasions with a movie that I really don't care about the faults or the plot holes or the blatant use of stunt doubles.
The eighteen year old in me is still calling for the flashy editing, silly use of knives and De Niro in full psycho mode, and I still love it.