Jerry Black is retiring as police chief when the last case he is involved with he cannot easily let go of, Stan Krolak quickly finds a suspect who has learning difficulties and he gets him to admit he killed the young girl. But Jerry isn't convinced, he thinks a serial killer is still on the loose!
I am such a huge fan of Jack Nicholson and have therefore looked on many occasions to watch this film as it has been on Netflix UK for quite a while now. I have eventually got round to watching it and as always a good performance from Nicholson. In what is a rather frustrating film, frustrating because no one will believe Jerry when he is not convinced they found the right killer. Blaming his old age and no found drinking to be the problem, as the viewer we see everything that Jerry has been working out and he must be right? We agree with him and are willing others to believe him as well. But it seems Stan has already made his mind up and just wants to get rid of him once and for all.
As Jerry gets himself deeper into the case talking the parents and grandparents girls that have been killed he finds a pattern in the appearance of the girls and some drawings as well. These point to that they knew the man who killed them and trusted him. This leads him to befriending a single mother Lori and her daughter, this then creates a very strange moral situation when he starts to think she could be targeted and then borderline uses her as bait? Well maybe not completely but it does run that line.
You are constantly left wondering if you have ended up as insane as Jerry or that he has actually been right the whole time. Remember earlier when I mentioned that the film is frustrating? Well, the ending the worst part about it all as well. I am not going to spoil it but it really did make me feel very angry and annoyed! If you have seen the film we should certainly discuss this further.
Cast wise the film does boast some truly fantastic actors and I found the very short performance from Benicio Del Toro to be haunting. Could hardly understand a word he said but that really was essential for the character he was playing. Aaron Eckhart also in a rather small role offered some very good moments as well. Some of these I did wish we got to see more of, the same can be said for Mickey Rourke, Sam Shepard, Helen Mirren and Patricia Clarkson. All used very sparingly but effective as well which created a strange dynamic. But I guess we did have Nicholson leading it all so well, with Robin Wright as a good person for him to act opposite. Sorry, but I really must mention those awful teeth that her character had! Couldn't take my eyes of them when she first appeared, I actually like small details like that showing that she was in a tough life and situation. Most of the time in films all characters still have perfect appearances.
Really want to talk more about this film if you have seen it?
