This was far and away the most underappreciated movie of the year. Everything about it was brilliant. Great acting, believable story, great direction, and a great score. Enough said
shareI am afraid that I don't, although I did quite enjoy the movie. I thought the story was far from believable - consider the lengths that those two men went to to make the other man's life even worse, over something so petty.
The acting was certainly not the best I have seen either Samuel L. or Ben Affleck, for comparison consider both their performances in The Sum of All Fears. The direction carried the story along quite nicely, although it was nothing special, and as for the score - I didn't even really notice it.
I give this movie a 6, as it was enjoyable, but certainly nothing special.
umm Samuel L Jackson wasnt in Sum Of All Fears, that was Morgan Freeman
sharebut think about what happened to them both..ben affleck is in a position where he could be sent off to prison for a while and sam jackson has just found out that his kids are moving half way across the country so from this standpoint i would say that this could happen in real life..as for the score, the next time u watch this just notice how the music fits with the scene and the mood of the characters..its a minor thing but it enhances the film
shareI think mr. Affleck could just have called Doyle Gipson, because in the start of the film Gipson was all about doing the right thing, so banek could've known he would sent the document back to him. I think especially the things Banek does to get his document are outrageous. Ofcourse Banek was under a lot of pressure, but he could've looked up where Gipson lived, and he could have gone there. Or, like the guy who screws Gipson's credit says: "you can call him up and be nice to him". Ofcourse it is not the most normal thing to unscrew a carwheel, but still,Gipson's life already seems ruined.
And besides that, I think every important emotional moment wasn't stressed enough. Like when Jackson is put in prison after he went to his sons'school. You see him think about what he has done, but before this leaves a big impression and gets to be an impressive moment, the movie continues to Affleck who's in another situation. If the director would've let does moments linger a bit more, this movie would have been way better.
A wasted opportunity I'd say, and that's to bad, because I found the last twenty minutes to be really good, and well-acted, even by Affleck. Especially the part where he says something about a possible different life, very good.
I always hate movies where people do awful things to each other and this movie really takes the cake where that is concerned. I sympathized more with Samuel L. Jackson's character than Ben Affleck's, so I cringed everytime another bad thing happened to Sam Jackson. I wish Ben Affleck just called him and treated him nicely so none of these things ever happened. This film just stressed me out, as these types of films always do. I only partly watched it - I surfed the net for most of the film and only peeked out a few times. I would have changed the channel but my boyfriend seemed to want to watch this flick. I wanted to see what happened. I just wish there was a website where I could just read up on the entire film to find out. That way, I can skip the bad parts. Humans are already so evil to each other, it really isn't entertaining for me to watch a movie about how horribly we can treat each other.
shareI though what really stole the show was the excellent camera work, as well as Samuel L. Jackson - he's such a great actor,
The owls are not what they seem.
Jackson and Affleck were excellent in their roles, and the film had so much to share in its analysis of human emotions. It was a great, great film, and definitely one's on this years best. I would give it ****1/2, and rate it as the #4 film of the year, which places it below Punch-Drunk Love, Road to Perdition and Talk to Her, but above Gangs of New York, The Hours and The Pianist. A fine film.
Insanity runs in my family - it pratically gallops!
Arsenic and Old Lace 1944
i completely agree with bradp36. this movie was hardly in theaters (i dont remeber it in there for very long at least) and every preformance was amazingly realistic. Ben Affleck was actually very good and Sam was great as he usually is. The lengths the characters go is completly believeable, and the dialoge was also believeable. A thriller that actaully thrills that is believealbe...how often does that happen? (Great directing also!)
sharei did not find it all as believable as you did, my only complaint about the movie.
shareIt did rather well in theaters. It was #1 in the country.
sharei dont agree at all. I found it very slow, in fact id checked my watch just 15 minutes in. I don't think ben affleck can act and I didnt find the story very believable. I didnt think much of the two main characters which meant I didnt care what happened to either - the whole point of the film.
there r so many better films out there
BELIEVABLE STORY!!! you gotta be nuts.. who would turn down a blank check??? please people!! it was boring.... and the premise was dumb...i wanted to suspend my disbelief but after that scene i knew it was going to be stupid... if they could have made that more believable then the story would have been good.... only a schmuck would say No.... and their would be no point if he took the check and went home... the writers should have thought this out more... especially that they are from NY!!! what New yorker busts out with his check book after an accident??? LOL LOL
share Woah!! Wait a a minute. You can't see someone not accepting the check and so it's not believable. Have you ever heard of stoicism or pride? Off hand, I can think of 6 people who would not accept a check in that situation. I realize this is really after the fact and that no one will read this, but come on. Anyone and everyone would accept the blank check? I don't think so.
erich
I would have to agree with the original post. I loved this movie so much!! This movie was what made me start to appreciate Ben Affleck as such a great actor, and this story was great and yes...totally believable!!About these people not having reason to go through such lengths to make the other's life hell, haven't you ever been extremely mad at someone over something really really stupid?! Let alone a car wreck that practically ruins your life? And about the blank check..ever heard of HONESTY!! Well, don't be fooled... this was a brilliant script and brilliant acting!!
shareI really enjoyed this movie, damn right its unappreciated.
Thought you might try escaping...so I just took the liberty of removing your horse's brain
A wonderful, fantastic Movie, and if you didn't like it (what in my opinion means, you didn't get it ), then maybe you are like the Sidney Pollack Character in the Movie!?
Think about your life man, and than just watch this Masterpiece again.
It isn't realistic??? What the heck do you mean with "it isn't realistic"!????
This is a MOVIE ,not a documentary, and it wants to get a MESSAGE to our brains.
If you see Superman saving peoples lifes it also isn't realistic, but you don't care about it, because you get the MESSAGE,like doing good things in your life, and not misuse your power and influence. If you think for just one second, Superman coul be the most powerful Man on the Planet, he could make himself a dictator, or at least, do whatever he wants to do in his life; but he doesn't , because he has moral, Principles,etc.
This movie isn't realistic??
Come on People, don't act more stupid than you actually are!!
wow
well said