I cant really criticize this movie besides the fact that it is aiming to be a crime classic, but fails at it. Besides that, everything is done with style: photography, acting, soundtrack, they are all to be commended. Good acting, gorgeous photograhpy, but what is lacking is greatness. I think director Phil Joanou is to blame for that. Somehow he mixed the perfect ingredients the wrong way. It is always tricky to mix a lovestory with a crimestory. Somehow it didnt work for me. It wanted to be a tough gangstermovie, but it wanted to portray a lovestory too. The endresult is that it is neither.
Believability is paramount: I have to be able to see the actors perform real life characters in a way that I can believe in. And somehow Sean Penn's undercover role just wasnt very believable because of the context of the story: an undercover cop who infiltrates a crimescene consisting of childhood friends. Naah, that just spoils the believability for me. The flaws in credibility of the story really ruined this picture.
Acting is great though. Oldman played his usual hysterical maniac. Brilliant. But Penn's role shrunk to the size of a peanut compared to the power of Oldman. And Robin Wright was mostly there to be pretty, which she was. She can act too, but her role wasnt very believable in the context of the story either.
It could have been a much better movie with some better direction and adaptations to the credibility of the story. Still I watched it till the end, because it is certainly not a bad movie. It is a movie that could have been a classic, but failed at that. Nothing more frustrating though than third place when you are aiming for first. Come to think of it this movie is typical of many Sean Penn movies: style over content. He looks the part, but is a buffoon.
Believability is paramount: I have to be able to see the actors perform real life characters in a way that I can believe in. And somehow Sean Penn's undercover role just wasnt very believable because of the context of the story: an undercover cop who infiltrates a crimescene consisting of childhood friends. Naah, that just spoils the believability for me. The flaws in credibility of the story really ruined this picture.
Acting is great though. Oldman played his usual hysterical maniac. Brilliant. But Penn's role shrunk to the size of a peanut compared to the power of Oldman. And Robin Wright was mostly there to be pretty, which she was. She can act too, but her role wasnt very believable in the context of the story either.
It could have been a much better movie with some better direction and adaptations to the credibility of the story. Still I watched it till the end, because it is certainly not a bad movie. It is a movie that could have been a classic, but failed at that. Nothing more frustrating though than third place when you are aiming for first. Come to think of it this movie is typical of many Sean Penn movies: style over content. He looks the part, but is a buffoon.