| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
A- |
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One amazing performance by Penn!
by Tristan (movies profile)
Dec 23, 2006
12
of
15 people found this review helpful
Sean Penn's performance (not to mention his weight!) was HUGE, and at times overwhelming. But, that was the character he was playing: A HUGE a and, at times, overwhelming candidate/governor. Penn nailed the part dead on. His speeches were, at first, a bit googfy. But then you got into his character and really started to understand the he was a self-proclaimed "hick", and therefore spoke like a half-drunk guy from the sticks. (And is that gauze stuffed in his mouth??)
Jude Law played a great reluctant reporter that refused to be a part of anything, even though he was an important cog on the governor's machine. Law managed to nail this part amazingly well, and often made me forget that it was Jude Law up there - now THAT'S convincing. (Unlike Batman Begining where you sat there watching big-name actors never quite being convincing enough to hide their well-known personas.)
Blanchett was the one person that had me wincing. Was it the blonde hair and dark eyebrows? Was it the quirky acting? Was it the way she just didn't seem to be on the same level as all of the others? I think it was all three that just kept popping off the screen. I found every scene she was in to be drasticly unbalanced and quirky. My wife doesn't agree, and thinks that maybe that's how the character was meant to be: drastic, quirky and fake.
Hopkins as the judge was, again, right on. He played the retired judge that was putting pressure on the legislature to impeach the governor. Most of the movie involves trying to find some dirt on the judge so that he might call of the impeachment proceedings.
Of course, things don't go neatly and we start to learn that none of the characters are exactly what they seem. Except one...
I HIGHLY recommend this movie. It is NOT one of those movies that have to be seen in the theater like the 'Rings' trilogy or StarWars, so you could wait for the DVD. |
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