A very good movie

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. Apparently, before making this movie, Billy Bob Thornton was a struggling actor and he basically launched his career by starring in his own movie. It is a rather unusual move but it has been done by some other actors such as Gary Sinise, Sam Neill and even Vin Diesel. I must say I was really amazed by Thornton’s directing debut. Indeed, at first, you think it might be about a deranged killer who is let loose in the real world and goes back killing some more people but it was much more than that. Indeed, it was in fact one of the most fascinating character studies I have ever seen. Not only Thornton’s directing was pretty good, his acting was quite amazing as well. Basically, he completely disappeared behind the character and changed his face, his walk, his body language, his speech and there was not a single moment when he stepped out of character. There were a couple of moments when I thought they made Karl sound a little too smart just to fit the needs of the script but it was something really minor. I was also impressed by a very young Lucas Black. Black would eventually end up playing the very same character in every single movie (‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’, ‘Friday Night Lights’, ‘Jarhead’) but, as a child, he was quite amazing. On the downside, the whole thing was filled with some awfully decent people, except for one terrible douche bag which happened to be there only to make sure that they will be a dramatic climax at the end. Furthermore, there was also this one scene which really blew me away. At first, it seemed rather odd that Frank’s mother would let Karl so suddenly live with them when she didn’t know him at all. But then, when he finally told her what happened in his past, I thought she would really freak out and throw him out of the house but, no, she told him to sit down and fixed him some biscuits! I was really floored by this scene which was so refreshing because she reacted completely against expectation. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a very impressive drama and, if you, like me, didn’t care much for ‘Forrest Gump’ and would rather watch something grim, bleak and realistic, you should definitely check this one out.

8/10