An average movie

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, I thought I should give it a try. Lately, I came to believe that Swank is struggling a little bit with her career after winning twice the Academy award for the best actress. To improve on this, she keeps showing up in real life stories like 'Amelia' and this flick. Unfortunately, those efforts were rather underwhelming. Still, I have to admit it, this flick was better than 'Amelia'. The point is that the story it was based on was really good but the movie, unfortunately, was not. First of all, I didn't care much about the random chronology. I mean, if it really doesn't add much, just don't use it. Furthermore, even though Hilary Swank gave a decent performance, I was still missing something from her character. Indeed, she ends up in a terrible situation and takes some drastic decisions but she never loses her mind in anyway. Maybe the real Betty Ann Waters also remained composed during her 20 years fight but it didn't make for a fascinating watch. On the other hand, I was once again really impressed by Sam Rockwell, such a fine and underrated actor. The guy basically spends most of the duration in the visiting room of the prison but you can see him slowly physically changing and decomposing mentally through the years. Also, at the end, they show a picture with the message 'For Kenny' so I was pretty sure the guy died but they didn't say. And guess what? I looked it up and he died in a freak accident only 6 months after he had been released! I mean, that's quite something but I guess they didn't want to ruin their happy ending. Still, it remains a very good story and in spite of its flaws, it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

6/10