petersimcox

No spoilers here, but I do offer a disclaimer: I have found that if you have read the book on which a movie is based, it can color the way you see the film. I read and thoroughly enjoyed Mystic River. The movie is a faithful and intelligent adaptation of the book and therein lies a problem. In order to incorporate the main elements of the narrative, the film is a bit long, and to be honest there are a couple of scenes that are overlong. Clint Eastwood wrote the score - I guess if you are Clint Eastwood, you can do about anything you like - but the music doesn't add anything. While I am dealing with the negatives, I must also add that a very few times the film teeters on the brink of melodrama. Beyond that I have nothing but good things to say. Eastwood's direction is steady, intelligent and sensitive. Most of the settings - indoor and out - are evocative, accurate and even mystical. Kevin Bacon as police detective Sean Devine is terrific. Of the three main characters, his is most centered, most normal, and that's how he plays it. Sean Penn will probably be nominated for Best Actor. The most memorable scene in the film - sadly one being widely shown in the trailers - is Penn's, and he delivers hugely. Tim Robbins' character is maybe the most demanding. His accent is consistent and believable, and he is one of those actors that can act with posture. Lawrence Fishburene, surely one of America's best male actors, is marvelously effective as Bacon's partner. This film isn't a ten, but it is a "must see."

Warning: Contains a few details about the film. Robert Duvall and

Michael Caine are two of my all-time favorites, and even when they

have appeared in less-than-perfect films, their performances

never seem to be the problem. I expected to enjoy Secondhand

Lions, and sometimes expectations lead to disappointments.

However this movie met my best hopes and more, and I left the

theater euphoric. Talk about a "feel good" movie, this is it. As

everyone pretty much knows, this is about a young boy, well played

by Joel Hayley Osment, who must go and live with two uncles,

Caine and Duvall, lovably wacky men approaching old age with

misgivings. Their challenge is to evolve as surrogate parents and

role models for the adolescent who is suddenly thrown into the

middle of their eccentric lives. Duvall is a legendary hero (or is it

merely legend?) involving Arabs, harems, gold, much swashbuckling, and so forth. Caine is his lifelong co-adventurer

and chronicler. The only fault I found with the film, and it is minor,

is that the flashback scenes can't quite match the present day for

conflict and humor. They say that every good movie has to have

one memorable scene. This one has a number of them. (Bring a

hankie if you tear up at pure sentiment.) I would recommend this

film if a friendship depended on it.

I have appreciated Jeremy Irons since Brideshead Revisited. An actor of much skill and emotional range, he can admittedly be faulted for the occasional bizarre choice of rolls, for example the pedophile in the Lolita remake and the mad bomber in Die Hard 3, performances that surely have him waking up nights in a cold sweat. In The Fourth Angel, he takes on a semi-action role, which is not his usual casting, and yes, he pulls it off, because his character is basically a brainy journalist who stumbles into the world of shoot-em-up terrorists. If he is to survive, he must figure out how the clip goes into the AK-47 and how to work the safety, and learn it even as the killers are coming down the hall for him.

There's no secret about the plot. His wife and daughter are slaughtered by terrorists and he discovers that governments are not going to lend a hand. The way he expresses both his grief and his outrage represent his art at its peak. This film is nicely written and paced, and reminded me of Defense of the Realm. The Fourth Angel has an important role for a young male actor, who does very nicely, and features a brief but pleasing appearance by Charlotte Rampling, who has made the transition from femme fatale to middle aged woman with great grace. (She will look better to some now than she did then.)