In short, this is a story about a decent man driven to madness by an obsession. This story line has been covered with great success by many film makers and screenwriters many times before, but Penn's effort falls short, mainly due to a contrived and highly coincidental storyline.
Nicholson plays a cop who is entering retirement. Just hours before he is officially retired a young girl is found raped and killed. The only witness is a young boy who sees a long haired Indian man running from the scene of the crime. The boy does not see the crime happening. The Indian is quickly located and brought to the the police station. Turns out that he has past convictions for child abuse and drugs. He is also clearly retarded and with a little plodding from the cops confesses to the murder and then shoots himself with a cop's gun. Case closed right? Not so for Nicholson. He has promised the dead girl's parents that he will find the killer, and he is not convinced the Indian did it. Needles to day his fellow cops do not agree and the case is closed. Nicholson goes on his retirement but his promise still plays on his mind.
Now begins a long and at times unnecessarily meandering tale of Nicholson's slow degeneration into mad obsession. Penn tries to bring conviction to the story by portraying Nicholson attempting to settle down into a life of normal retirement and yet driven into pursuing the investigation by a series of subtle events that persuades him that the actual killer is still at large. This type of mood story requires skilled handling by the director, and Penn does not seem to have it (length does not necessarily create mood). Along the way we see Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren and Mickey Rourke in a series of cameos. Does nothing to improve the story though.
Nicholson in the central role acts like he is doing a favour to Penn by appearing in this movie. He does not appear to be giving 100% to this role. At times he looks like even he is unconvinced about the transformation of his character.
The most noteworthy aspect of this film is Penn's ability to get so many great actors together for this movie. Pity that their presence is not going to save this movie from obscurity.
Nicholson plays a cop who is entering retirement. Just hours before he is officially retired a young girl is found raped and killed. The only witness is a young boy who sees a long haired Indian man running from the scene of the crime. The boy does not see the crime happening. The Indian is quickly located and brought to the the police station. Turns out that he has past convictions for child abuse and drugs. He is also clearly retarded and with a little plodding from the cops confesses to the murder and then shoots himself with a cop's gun. Case closed right? Not so for Nicholson. He has promised the dead girl's parents that he will find the killer, and he is not convinced the Indian did it. Needles to day his fellow cops do not agree and the case is closed. Nicholson goes on his retirement but his promise still plays on his mind.
Now begins a long and at times unnecessarily meandering tale of Nicholson's slow degeneration into mad obsession. Penn tries to bring conviction to the story by portraying Nicholson attempting to settle down into a life of normal retirement and yet driven into pursuing the investigation by a series of subtle events that persuades him that the actual killer is still at large. This type of mood story requires skilled handling by the director, and Penn does not seem to have it (length does not necessarily create mood). Along the way we see Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren and Mickey Rourke in a series of cameos. Does nothing to improve the story though.
Nicholson in the central role acts like he is doing a favour to Penn by appearing in this movie. He does not appear to be giving 100% to this role. At times he looks like even he is unconvinced about the transformation of his character.
The most noteworthy aspect of this film is Penn's ability to get so many great actors together for this movie. Pity that their presence is not going to save this movie from obscurity.