chser453

If you are the sort that cant get beyond their base preconceptions, you'd be better off not watching this movie - Don't expect this film to be a ghost/horror story, or a serial-killer crime thriller ( quoted from another reviewer "It could have been a really good detective story with the 'ghost' helping solve the crime") - it doesn't pretend to be any of these things. Obviously there's a few reviews here that show up a lack of understanding of this, and theyd be better off sticking to the standard teen-slasher horror fare.

The exercise is to create viewer empathy for a young girl whose life is tragically cut short in brutal circumstances and how her family come to terms with it in her eyes. Granted Jackson doesn't give many of the characters much opportunity to really develop but the young irish teen Saoirse Ronan in particular succeeds in earning the audiences empathy especially when she fulfils her return to her true love on earth, for her one last short-lived time.

My main gripe is with the excessive and ultimately contrived use of CGI for the other-world setting, i don't think the movie needed it to tell the story - but with Jackson at the helm it was predictable in todays simplistic audience requirements. Certainly the movie version could have been produced more faithful to the book and therefore better, but Jackson wasn't the director for this.

And certainly don't expect it to be as good, or as comprehensive as the book ( personal drama adaptation movies rarely are) but as a package the compelling story, the excellent ambient musical score and the handful of strong performances that make you want to care about the outcome of Susies story, whatever it is, make this worth a watch

Small time gangster takes on Big time gangster the story has been down countless times before, but when its done well as here, makes for a good watch. Small budget and reflected in a fairly low profile cast, CG-Jr and Ferrer along with Keitel all make sound convincing performances. The violence is brutal and the characters harsh but convincing, certainly seen worse big budget examples of the genre getting their shot on the big screen. Don't expect anything ground breaking plot-wise but fans of the gangster flick wont be disappointed with the gritty realism, slick action sequences and unobtrusive soundtrack.