I knew relatively little about this movie before watching it, though I did watch the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the DVD. One great thing I can say of The Life of David Gale right away is that it truly gripped me from start to finish. I do have the feeling, though, that it may be a one-view wonder.

Kevin Spacey kind of plays himself again, not that this is a bad thing (since he does it so well), even almost entirely mimicking his teacher performance from Pay it Forward in early scenes. It’s Kate Winslet who really wows me here, given the chance to emote more than I’ve ever seen her do before.

It may all be a little too obvious and heavy-handed for me, ultimately. Of course, this is Alan Parker’s usual approach, but I think a more subtle, slow approach could’ve worked better for this story.

It’s a very clever screenplay that both keeps the story pumping and gives your brain a real feast of thoughts and ideas. It moved me to tears more than once. Ah, and how could I forget the other great actress in the movie… Laura Linney.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2005 at 7:42 pm in Movie Reviews, unrated. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.