Solemplex
To me, this movie is perfection.
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
Raymond Sierra
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
SnoopyStyle
Wayne (Robert Redford) and Eileen Hayes (Helen Mirren) live a comfortable upper class life in Pittsburgh high class suburb. They have two grown children (Alessandro Nivola, Melissa Sagemiller). Then Wayne disappears. He's been kidnapped by former employee Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe). The FBI investigates which reveals Wayne's ongoing affair. Eventually Arnold demands a ransom.The movie lacks the normal intensity. It's filled with a lot of the inbetween moments. It's a style that keeps the tension simmering at low. There are great actors here and it's fascinating to see them interact. There is also a timeline split going on. It's a great idea but it needs some more thought on its execution. This movie just needs greater intensity.
Wuchak
In "The Clearing" (2004) Robert Redford plays a rich executive in the Pittsburgh area kidnapped by a working class guy (Willem Dafoe) while his wife (Helen Mirren) tries to handle the situation.Those hoping for a conventional Hollywood crime thriller will be disappointing by "The Clearing." This is a reflective adult drama/mystery about a kidnapping, based on a true story that occurred in Holland in 1987.While decidedly low-key, there are interesting psychological elements rooted in class warfare (the executive and kidnapper's relationship) and the nature of happiness in marriage and the stumbling blocks thereof (the executive, his wife and another woman). The three acting giants make the drama believable and compelling. There's only one roll-your-eyes part (the aftermath of the fight between two guys; you'll know what I mean when you see it).The movie has left some people confused, but it's pretty straight-forward and everything is there if you pay attention. The two story lines are not parallel. One takes place over the course of a single day and the other over several days and, ultimately, the better part of a year (you'll note the seasons change).The city scenes were shot in Pittsburgh and the forest scenes in the Asheville, NC, area. Some parts were shot in Atlanta as well.The film runs 95 minutes.GRADE: B+
museumofdave
Redford, Mirren and Dafoe could read a seed catalog and make it fascinating, so this beginner's exercise in suspense and character is not a dull film if you keep that in mind; Roger Ebert mentioned that he could not see the conclusion coming--it was evident to me in the first ten minutes, the set-up with life-styles certainly leading the plot development: the worker bee on the public bus and the king of the hill with his swimming pool and doting wife neatly contrasted from the get-go.Because this is not primarily a violent film, but a character study, some may find the close-ups and studied manner of worried wife Mirren dull, but it is really the screenplay that needs some intensity and tension as the two men square off in the woods; their chatter is oddly pedestrian. There are moments worth watching here, but The Clearing fails to fully deliver on its promise
irishsounds
What a terrible load of rubbish. A waste of good actors. A waste of a film crew. A waste of film!!! A waste of time for anyone watching it. It is just such a heap of garbage!!!!The movie grabs you in the first few minutes with what promises to be a thriller. From there on it goes steadily downhill with a very weak storyline, some lousy directing, and a mawkish puerile ending.All I can say to anyone with this movie on DVD is bin it or burn it quickly. Don't insult anyone by giving to them.I would sue the makers for mental torture and stress if I had the means.Avoid this movie at all costs.
