AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

bkoganbing Clint Eastwood stars and directs A Perfect World where he plays a Texas Ranger. But he yields top actor billing to Kevin Costner playing a fugitive who takes 8 year old T.J. Lowther as a hostage. This was as it should have been because Costner has way more screen time than Eastwood.Costner and Keith Szarabajka escape from maximum security and kill a prison official and steal his car, the first of many stolen vehicles Costner will take. His second car exchange comes with young T.J. Lowther as well when Costner and Szarabajka stop at his mother's place.Young Lowther is being raised by a Jehovah Witness mom who forbids him a lot of what kids consider normal. After a bit he starts to bond with Costner who had a similar deprived childhood under vastly different circumstances. For a while Costner and Lowther view this escape as quite an adventure. But of course stern reality takes over.Although Eastwood is good his part is fairly one dimensional. A lot of it has to do with integrating newly assigned criminologist Laura Dern into his manhunt team, accent on man. Eastwood's an old school law enforcement guy, but some around him are of an even older school.The scenes with Costner and Lowther are the highlight of the film. The two really get a special chemistry going courtesy of director Eastwood.For those who like actor Eastwood they will be shortchanged. But director Eastwood is right on the job here.

EkaBlue This is a film which takes in the genre of the buddy movie, albeit taking a different slant on it and adding the element of a road trip as both the central characters reflect on what they have missed and subsequently experience elements of what they missed in their childhoods.Good cast but the it does just float along and never really takes off at any degree and seems somewhat flat all the away along to what seems an inevitable conclusion.There does seem a lack of energy throughout the film and this may go back to the two primary actors in this film with Eastwood who stars as a supporting actor, also directed this and by all accounts Costner was not a fan of Eastwoods directorial style. Eastwood is famous for speed, quick decision making and keeps the film rolling. Costner by all accounts is quite the opposite and likes to (or did like to, at the time of Dances with Wolves) take his time, and direct films in a more painstaking fashion. So very much two opposites meeting and two men that have not worked together since I believe. Mind you, one went and hit further heights and the others career slowed down a bit from the heights he was at around the time of this film.Lacks excitement and could have had more life to it really, and I am a big Eastwood fan.

treeline1 Butch (Kevin Costner) escapes from prison, takes a little boy named Phillip hostage, and leads the police (headed by Clint Eastwood) on a 2-day chase through rural Texas. The boy forms a close bond with his kidnapper who turns out to be a compassionate, though flawed, man.This is a very good movie with some humor and a lot of suspense. Butch and Phillip's scenes are pure gold, extremely well-written and believable. Kevin Costner gives an excellent, subtle, and sympathetic performance. Seven-year old T. J. Lowther is perfect as the boy who sees the getaway as a fun and grown-up adventure; he's endearing without being too-sweet. The movie alternates between Butch and Phillip and their pursuers, and while Eastwood is good as the steely Texas Ranger, Laura Dern is just annoying in a thankless role as a scowling criminologist. I would have given the movie 10 stars if all of the scenes without Butch and Phillip were deleted; they are wonderful together and the rest of the cast is just there to pad the movie.Directed by Eastwood, the film is ultimately a sad one but Costner and Lowther are outstanding.

Mr-Fusion "A Perfect World", a seldom-mentioned entry in Clint Eastwood's credits is a riveting character study that sees Kevin Costner as an escaped con who takes an 8 year-old boy hostage during his getaway. Giving chase is Eastwood as a grizzled Texas Ranger, and the fetching Laura Dern as his bookworm tagalong. A bond is forged between captive and captor that gives the film its emotional center. Both con and child find something in each other, one a tragic father figure, the other a surrogate sidekick.It's a slow burn, with the only action scenes being a speedy getaway and few gunshots. But the relationship between the two feels authentic, the kid's cute, and Costner even tends towards the likable (even with the lurking undercurrent of menace in his hardened criminal). It's a buildup - one that's quietly suspenseful - to a climactic scene that brings everyone involved to a date with fate, itself. And it's a movie that sticks with you, long after the credits roll. 8/10