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This is the 2008 film and not to be confused with the horror film "The Changeling" Directed by: Clint Eastwood Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich Summary: Single parent Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) returns home from work late one day to find her only child missing. 5 months later the boy is supposedly returned to her by the LAPD, an organization constantly under public scrutiny for corruption, greed, and doing anything possible to protect its public image. As Christine senses the child is not hers, she continues to further anger the police department who proceeds to publicly embarrass, mentally torture, and institutionalize the poor woman. Review: This film came to me highly recommended. I'm not entirely sure if it's because it is a Clint Eastwood film or because Angelina Jolie offered an Oscar-baiting performance, or both. After watching this dreary cast of shallow showroom dummies I am convinced those are the only two reasons one could recommend this film. I love the poo poo out of Clint Eastwood, in both his acting and film-making. I'm very disappointed to admit that I didn't hear about this film until this year and that I also didn't like it at all. No wonder. The immense amount of disdain Eastwood has for the LAPD is obvious from the start. The officers are heartless, emotionless, women-hating, PR-centric assholes who seem to ignore any sense of protocol. That's all we see on the outside because only Jolie's character was explored at any point in the movie. The remaining cast exists as drones on a screen. Using Jolie as the only way to get involved in the movie was a bad move considering how she's hurled into a number of different stories that could have very well been a different movie. The entire last half of the movie is chaotic and confusing. If you like getting severely angered over abrasive sexism, intellectual disdain, or police departments then you will love this movie. For anyone grounded in reality, this probably isn't for you. A 'true' story this may be based on (and obnoxiously lauded as such) but highly unbelievable it most definitely is. It comes off as beautiful from the start, but Eastwood was clearly lazy with this piece of work. It's like he threw the script at the actors and tossed out a "Do your best!" and saw no reason for adding his own creative pulse to an otherwise drab parade of clowns. Maybe following Mystic River so closely with another missing child film just wasn't a good idea? Rating: 2/5 Pros: Angelina Jolie, initially provocative premise, excellent cinematography Cons: Utterly preposterous, lazy directing, robotic unemotional acting, so forced it comes off as insulting
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Nov 30, 2009 09:18
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:36 |
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I came into this film with rather low expectations because I really am not a fan of Angelina Jolie, but was pleasantly surprised; the storyline was engrossing, Jolie performs really rather well, and an appearance from Malkovich (albeit minor) is always a plus. All I really have to say against the film is that it seems to meander about in the middle a little bit, but otherwise it's all top-notch. 4/5 Stars
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Apr 15, 2010 08:05
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