If you feel it necessary to classify movies, A PERFECT WORLD may be difficult to pigeonhole. On the surface, this might seem like a buddy movie crossed with a road picture, but there's a depth that defies anything normally found in either genre. What starts out looking like a good old Clint Eastwood cops-and-robbers tale turns into something completely unexpected.
Halloween night in 1963 starts out as any October 31st for eight-year old Phillip Perry (T. J. Lowther), with his mother, a devout Jehovah's Witness, refusing to let him go trick-or-treating. In fact, that's not the only thing on the boy's list of "forbidden items." He can't celebrate Christmas, has never eaten cotton candy, and hasn't ridden a roller coaster. Life seems a little dull, until Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) bursts into his kitchen. Recently escaped from prison, Butch is in need of a hostage, and Phillip happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Strangely, the boy instinctively trusts Butch, and goes along meekly. The ride starts out a little bumpy, with Butch's sadistic fellow escapee attempting to molest the hostage--a situation that Butch sorts out permanently. Then, when it's only the two of them, Butch and Philip head across Texas with Police chief Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood) and his band of Rangers in pursuit.
Those who understand the psychology of hostage situations are aware of the bond that develops between captive and captor. The case presented in A PERFECT WORLD, however, is far from normal, even for these circumstances. The connection between Kevin Costner's Butch and T. J. Lowther's Phillip isn't something nebulous, but a father-and-son-like relationship that profoundly affects both of them. Once they're together, neither of them can be the same--not spiritually, physically, or morally.
This relationship is the centerpiece of A PERFECT WORLD, and director Clint Eastwood allows it to play out at the leisurely pace necessary for it to achieve its ultimate depth and power. There are a few brief action scenes punctuating the drama, but this is not a movie for the viewer who craves car chases and shootouts.
On the surface, the scenes featuring Eastwood appear largely superfluous and, while they aren't strictly necessary to the plot, they nevertheless serve an important purpose. A PERFECT WORLD wouldn't be best served by presenting the Butch/Phillip sequences without interruption. The pacing would be too slow; the tone too somber. The inclusion of a storyline focusing on Butch's pursuers allows for a few more characters, an opportunity or two of comic relief, and a subplot that ties a few things together a little too neatly.
Like his star, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood is a better director than actor. In A PERFECT WORLD, he again wears both hats, although his on-screen appearances are limited. Eastwood the actor has two modes--the cynical tough guy and the sensitive tough guy, both of which are on display here (the former more often than the latter). He's in fine form, but it's his behind-the-scenes work that really deserves the credit. A PERFECT WORLD has its moments of manipulation, but they are masterfully subtle. With films like THE JOY LUCK CLUB, we feel the strings being tugged; such is not the case with this movie.
Kevin Costner is an unusual actor--his performances are as inconstant as his choices of films. For every DANCES WITH WOLVES, there's a THE BODYGUARD. His job in A PERFECT WORLD, however, is something to take pride in. Perhaps Eastwood deserves a share of the credit, but Costner develops a credible character who comes across as both believable and sympathetic despite his obvious criminal nature. The portrayal eclipses the portrayer, which is always a good sign.
Laura Dern is wasted. I can only assume her inclusion is an attempt to present a strong-willed, intelligent woman as a foil for Clint Eastwood, but her ability is rarely shown and never developed. Ms. Dern does a surprisingly good job with what little material she has, but her presence isn't necessary, and it adds little.
A PERFECT WORLD is evidence that Hollywood is still capable of producing the kinds of moving, intelligent movies that many people today believe to be solely the province of independent film makers. This picture is good enough to stand with THE PIANO and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, rightfully claiming to offer as much as they do. The characters here have depth and breadth, and the themes and relationships are as complex as in any of the year's best offerings.
Clint Eastwood won an Oscar for directing UNFORGIVEN, and A PERFECT WORLD shows that the wellspring of talent is still bubbling energetically. May it never run dry.
By : James Berardinelli
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 3
Capsule review: This is something of a departure for Eastwood, a gritty and realistic crime drama that slowly fades into a story with warm relationships. Costner has center stage as an escaped convict who forms a father-son relationship with his young hostage. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
Clint Eastwood has built a career on playing violent characters, particularly his "Man with No Name" and Dirty Harry. Two films back he made UNFORGIVEN, an anti-violence Western that was nonetheless violent. There was speculation that his films would be less violent from that point on and that UNFORGIVEN was a sort of penance. The next film he starred in, IN THE LINE OF FIRE, was another film in the "Dirty Harry" mold, but Eastwood claimed that he had no artistic control and was just an actor playing a part. Eastwood has now directed his first film since UNFORGIVEN. Like UNFORGIVEN it is a film with some violence, but at the same time does not glorify that violence.
Kevin Costner plays Butch Haynes, who breaks out of a Texas prison on Halloween night of 1963 together with Terry Pugh, a brutal hood. Along the way they pick up an eight-year-old hostage, Philip, played by T. J. Lowther. On their trail is Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Eastwood) who has been assigned a state criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern). This is a Clint Eastwood film, so of course Dern is along to play the required female lead to be subjected to the Eastwood character's insensitive male chauvinism in the early parts of the film but to be won over by Eastwood in the later parts of the film. In this outing, however, Eastwood and Dern take a backseat to Costner and Lowther, who play the real main characters of the film, Haynes and Philip. Eventually it is just Haynes and Philip on the run and learning to get along with each other. Lowther is attracted to the father figure he was missing at home, Costner is torn between his anti-social urges and his desire to be a better father figure to Philip than Haynes's father had been to Haynes. Costner make a very believable Texas con.
Much of the story is told with very little mood music as Eastwood adopts the realistic style of IN COLD BLOOD and BADLANDS. Unfortunately that is only the part of the story about the fugitives. The witty in- fighting of the police on the case and comic bits involving an aluminum trailer serving as police headquarters for the Texas backroad chase tend to sabotage the almost documentary style of the fugitives' story. Eventually this part of the plot gives in to more humanistic values and we get some more background music to tell us how to feel about what we are experiencing.
Costner's character is one of the more complex ones we have seen on the screen in a while, particularly in an Eastwood film. His unfinished business with his own father has led him to idolize children and his violence is usually triggered by his seeing a child not being treated well. He is infuriated to discover that Philip's religion, Jehovah's Witness, does not allow the boy to trick or treat or to go to carnivals and does not distinguish between religious restrictions and parental brutality. It is the combination of his own unintended cruelty to his young companion and his desire to protect the boy that lead the story to its denouement.
Eastwood makes a few beginner's mistakes not expected of an experienced director. There are serious continuity flaws, particularly with arm positions in a key scene at both the beginning and end of the film. This combined with the uneven style do not sink the film, but certainly count against it. My rating for A PERFECT WORLD would be a less than perfect +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
