LeonLouisRicci There Appears, at times, Ingredients added to this blend of an Actor's Showcase Reality and Reality that doesn't fit comfortably. The Tone and Goal of the Film is purposefully Uncomfortable, obviously, but this is another kind of thing. Might even be called Cringe Inducing on Occasion. An altogether Opposite Reaction.The Acting from A-List Actors is expectedly Excellent. David Morse's Low-Key, Smooth and Endearing Performance doesn't quite Steal the Show but comes close. Mainly because His suffering Empathy is closest to a Relatable Reality. Nicholson's Rage, Self Loathing, and Grief mixed with Alcoholism is not on screen to be Liked, and waiting for the very Last Shot for Release is a Wait Too Long. Anjelica Huston is Good in a small but Important Role.Nicholson's frequent Trip to the Strip-Club with His Obnoxious Friends really Goes Nowhere and is Irritating and Cumbersome. Morse Hooking Up with Robyn Wright also seems just as Awkward. These two Characteristic Contrasts Fail the Film.Overall, Worth a Watch but the Unpleasantness Undermines the Tension and Drama that the Story Builds quite well otherwise. A Good, Taut, but Inconsistent Study of Grief, Guilt, Revenge, and Reconciliation.

markymark70 First of all, I wanted to like this movie. I like Penn (in both his acting roles and 'some' as director - 'Into The Wild' was fantastic), I like Morse and Nicholson is a good addition as well. The subject of the movie resonates with me too - a father wanting to exact revenge on the drunk-driver killer of his little girl. What father wouldn't feel like that? However, mashing all this together for a film - it just doesn't work.Why? For me - the story was too meandering, too off-the-beaten-track to hook in the viewer. Nicholson's erratic behaviour as a drink-guzzling, topless bar frequenting Lothario - although giving us a look into how his life has become empty and shallow - does not give us much sympathy for him. He tracks down his daughter's killer and gives him 3 days grace. After such time, he will come and shoot him dead. The first question in my mind was why? Why not kill him there and then - get it over with - after all he had been waiting 7 years already.Morse - who had obviously pumped iron for the intervening time in jail - plays his part as best as he can. He's not given much in the way of a script to flesh out his character but he does well to personalise and internalise the pain. Nicholson does okay too - his acting a little spotty at times but in the main he holds it together quite well. A decent turn from Angelica Huston adds to the film. Robin Wright-Penn though does not. It's not entirely her fault as her part is completely irrelevant as Morse's not-quite-love-interest. (In one scene - which I had to replay to see if I saw it properly the first time - I thought Morse had broken her neck for no apparent reason. But it turned out to be a cuddle. Strangest cuddle ever if you ask me.) So the movie meanders through a series of not very exciting moments until we end up at the end of the 3 days with a chase between Nicholson and Morse. This, although leading to some redemption, is almost laughable. First of all Nicholson is an old man, coming off the back of a night of beer and cigarettes and generally out of shape. Morse, on the other hand, looks like a clean-living, hard-working, in-shape perfect human specimen - but yet cannot outrun his predator. A preposterous chase from his trailer through the streets of downtown (where Nicholson has umpteen opportunities to kill his prey and doesn't) ends up in the graveyard where the little girl is buried. Causing both men to finally find some solace and finality.Poor.Don't get me too wrong here - there are some nice scenes, some good dialog too but it is ruined by an unfocused script and an ending that has to be seen to be dis-believed. Penn has had worse outputs than this and he is clearly learning his craft as he goes along but this does go down as a thumbs down rather than up.I'll give it 6/10 for an honest effort at telling a well-worn story in a different way but it was a disappointment at the end of the day.

Jackson Booth-Millard From producer/writer/director Sean Penn, I didn't really know what to expect with this film I didn't know anything about, about from the lead actor and it being rated four stars, and that for me was enough. Basically Freddy Gale (Jack Nicholson) has waited for six for the man responsible for killing his daughter in a hit and run, John Booth (David Morse), to be released from prison, and that day has come. The day of his release, Gale goes to see a changed and regretful Booth, and he announces that he will kill him in one week. In this time, Booth uses the time to make peace with himself and have a relationship, while Gale spirals to the edge of sanity with his obsessive hatred for Booth. So the end of the week comes, and Gale is ready with a gun to kill Booth, but when it actually comes to it, Gale is really struggling to do what he has wanted to do all those years. Also starring Golden Globe nominated Anjelica Huston as Mary, Robin Wright Penn as Jojo, Piper Laurie as Helen Booth, Richard Bradford as Stuart Booth, Priscilla Barnes as Verna, Robbie Robertson as Roger, Kellita Smith as Tanya, John Savage as Bobby, Kari Wuhrer as Mia, Joe Viterelli as Joe and Dr. William Dignam as The Crossing Guard (of the title). Nicholson is not as showy as he usually is, Morse makes a pretty fine performance as the near sympathetic ex-criminal, and the story has an intelligent enough script that you can forgive the slow-burning pace, it is a drama to care about. Good!

dunmore_ego What a brilliant little gem of a movie! An emotional wallop to the weeping nerve.And no wonder - written and directed by Sean Penn, the King Of Weeping (and I say that in all respect to his talent of doing it on cue), who shows a directorial hand in THE CROSSING GUARD as controlled and powerful as Eastwood's, who would direct him years later in MYSTIC RIVER.John Booth (David Morse) is released from prison. Freddy Gale (Jack Nicholson) licks his chops; vows to his wife Mary (Angelica Huston) he's going to kill this killer of his daughter - Booth ran her down accidentally on a school crossing; his jail time was for that manslaughter. Freddy meets with Booth, gives him three days to get out of town before Freddy would come after him...It all seems like a nice setup for a popcorn B-Movie chase actioner. Which Penn righteously ignores, thank Christ! These characters are not Hollywood-ised in the least, even though the action takes place on those familiar streets. These are conflicted men, who deal with emotional aftershocks like swaying pendulums: David Morse gives the performance of a lifetime as Booth, all raspy voice, muttonchop sideburns and jail mullet; guilt-ridden and welcoming Death's imminent embrace one minute, then filled with fake bravado the next, black sunglasses on at night, taunting the air, "Come on!" and willing Freddy to burst through his trailer door to cease the suspense. Jack makes his dead eyes deader as Freddy, a jeweler by trade, now a shell, sublimating his ferocious weeping anger in hookers and booze, trying to alternately kill himself and make plans to kill Booth.Robin Wright Penn is the very picture of empathy, as a woman whose embrace Booth falls into, but who "can't compete with his guilt." Booth tells her of the accident, of how he knelt by Freddy's daughter after running her down and she was mouthing something - apologizing for not looking both ways.THE CROSSING GUARD makes the ground shift under our feet emotionally. We don't know whether to sympathize with a father's righteous anger or a manslaughterer's purgatorial guilt.It moves us in strange ways: there is a blackly humorous scene where Freddy is dining a Mexican hooker while a band performs Love Hurts - in Mexican; then the ground shifts as Freddy weeps inconsolably on the phone to his wife; then shifts again, as he meets with her in a restaurant, only to end up indignant that she would deign to feel sorry for him feeling sorry for himself, and telling her he "hopes she dies!" Then shifts again: Freddy hides from the police in the room of a little girl, whom he implores not to reveal him; she doesn't, the police leave, and he kisses her tenderly, "Good night, sweetheart." Excellent scene where Freddy is pulled over by police, who actually act like police, rather than Movie Police.When Freddy gets to Booth, Booth gets the drop on him - but both men are so conflicted that now it is Freddy's turn to welcome death, confessing that he's on the run from police, he's trespassing, he's got a gun and he was drunk driving. If Booth shot him now, he would walk away clean; Freddy almost begs Booth to put him out of his misery, in a masculine displacement gesture: "I guess I'm gonna try and shoot you." As Booth and Freddy aim at each other, it's like a John Woo moment - without the stupidity.But Booth has something deeper in store. He drops his rifle and takes off, with Freddy giving chase half-heartedly. With a gun in his hand, Freddy could easily shoot him down, yet allows himself to be led, with Booth just out of range - until the KIDS IN THE HALL moment, where they both board a bus and Booth pays for Freddie and they sit at opposite ends, waiting to resume the chase on foot.Where Booth is leading Freddy is this movie's beating heart. It is so poignant and surprising that the King of Weeping has got me doing it as soon as the chase starts, because I know where it leads.We realize only in the last frames that Freddy has never visited his daughter's grave.--Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania)