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State of GraceRating:
Release Date: 03 December, 2002 Retail Price: $14.94 OUR Price: $8.97 You SAVE: $5.97! Cast: Complete Cast (17 total) |
State of Grace Reviews
"We're not tough, Nick! We're just crazy."
New York City's "Hell's Kitchen" is always a great setting for mob movies (for obvious reasons), and here it is used to perfection by director Phil Joanou. Add to that an impressive cast (Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, and John Turturro) plus wonderful music by one of the world's greatest composers, Ennio Morricone, and you've got a gripping character-driven mob story. By the way, has anyone noticed that Morricone's score for State of Grace is amazingly similar to his score for Oliver Stone's film U-Turn? Oh well, who cares, I love Morricone's music!
Terry Noonan (Sean Penn), an undercover cop, has just returned to his old Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. His goal: infiltrate Frankie Flannery's (Ed Harris) Irish mob and find enough evidence to put him and his murderous gang behind bars. But there's a problem, Frankie's younger brother Jackie (Gary Oldman) is an old close friend of Terry's, having grown up with him in the tough streets of Hell's Kitchen. Jackie is hot-tempered and is second-in-command with Frankie's mob, a fact that makes Terry's job much harder for him as time goes by. Terry's job becomes even harder when he begins seeing an old girlfriend (Robin Wright), who is the sister of Frankie and Jackie. Terry's love for her and his close bond with Jackie eventually leads to betrayal and murder, culminating in a bloody showdown between Terry and Frankie (and his mob) on a St. Patrick's Day.
Because this type of story has been overdone so much by Hollywood, the story is a little predictable. However, the top-notch cast puts a whole lot of energy and effort into the acting. Previously, I'd thought Ed Harris (with those fierce, piercing blue eyes) couldn't play a more unlikable character than the German sniper who kills a child in Enemy at the Gates, but as you'll see he's even more brutal in this well made thriller. Sean Penn and Robin Wright had great chemistry together and both delivered intense and convincing performances. Gary Oldman was very good at playing a psycho mobster, but maybe a little too extreme at times. Anyway, fans of mob movies will definitely enjoy this underated film. Highly recommended.
Falls flat
State of Grace is NOT a great, forgotten film. It could have been much better. Penn and Oldman make for a good pair of Irish hoods, but the story is flat. The romance is uninteresting and Terry Noonan's conflicts are not convincing. Penn should have played a straight-up Irish hood with the whole cop idea dropped. Instead of a cop, why not just an informant a la the Sopranos?
More Customer Reviews (21 total)
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