Mimran Schur Pictures, Holly Wiersma Productions, Millennium Films
Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Frances Conroy, Enver Gjokaj, Pepper Binkley, Sandra Love Aldridge, Greg Trzaskoma, Rachel Loiselle
Jack Mabry (Robert DeNiro) is a parole officer at a large prison, but is about to retire. His life is going on autopilot as he merely exists by praying, listening to fundamentalist Christian radio broadcasts, and being mean to his wife and daughter. He is about to retire, but knows how boring it’s going to be, so he asks for permission to finish the cases that are already in progress to extend it a little while. One of these is Gerald ‘Stone’ Creeson (Edward Norton) who was convicted of arson, but now claims to have had an epiphany and wants to get out early to do good work. Meanwhile his wife, on the outside, Lucetta Creeson (Mila Jovovich) works with Jack to help persuade him to let her husband go using all the worldly, womanly wiles that she has to get him to help. Being all alone and sad, he falls for it, and is convinced she is serious about him. Jack doesn’t know which end is up and where his own life will end up.
This is a dark and very psychological thriller of a movie. It’s fairly slow developing and is deep in character development and not so much action, but it is R rated and earns the rating easily. Jack is at a crisis in his life, and though he’s very cynical and a pro at the con game prisoners play, he’s also kind of vulnerable. He seeks out a priest to beg for direction, but flounders pretty much on his own. It’s a good enough story to keep you wondering, and at the end, you think you know what happened, but are never really sure. It keeps you thinking. Good job by DeNiro playing the straight guy who’s trying to do right, and this is one of the quirky characters that Norton plays so well, like in “Leaves of Grass“. Mila is also very good in her “Marisa Tomei” type role which she pulls off very well. All in all it’s a good suspenseful thriller and a very moody story.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
