Clint 35 Films 35 Years Eastwood: A PERFECT WORLD Review
Warner Bros has recently made a very special collection, EASTWOOD 35, which celebrates 35 years of collaboration with Clint Eastwood, available on DVD and for Download. The collection includes 34 of Clint Eastwood’s films, as well as a documentary about him.
I was offered the chance to download one of the film on iTunes and my choice was A Perfect World. Now this might not be the movie that most people would choose, but it has a special meaning to me. You see I was a huge (I mean huge) fan of Kevin Costner as a kid and of course would watch pretty much any movie he was in, and A Perfect World was the first time that I saw him in anti-hero kind of part, which I of course thought was great. I remembered really loving the movie, but sometimes movies you watch as a kid don’t hold up when you watch them years later. But I am glad to say that A Perfect World didn’t only hold up, I think I loved it even more this time around.
A Perfect World tells the story of an escaped convict, Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner), who through certain circumstances ends up kidnapping a young boy, Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther). As they travel across Texas together, a bond is created between the two. Parallel to that story, Butch is being pursued by Texas Ranger Red Garnett (Clint Eastwood) and his team, as well as criminologist Sally Gerber (Laura Dern).
The movie is directed by Clint Eastwood, who does such a great job of capturing the essence of such a simple, but beautiful story. The relationship between Butch and Phillip is build up perfectly and I think he captures Phillip’s innocence completely.
Kevin Costner is great, but then again I could be biased. Even though, he technically plays a “bad” character, he is so charismatic that it’s hard to hate him. And the way he interacts with Phillip tells you a lot about his own character. You can see there are layers there, and that’s why it works. T.J. Lowther is adorable as Phillip and definitely holds his own against Kevin Costner.
But I also need to mention the other side of the story, Clint Eastwood plays Texas Ranger Red Garnett in pursuit of Butch. This is of course also a very likeable character, and Clint Eastwood is Clint Eastwood, so how could you not like him? Laura Dern also makes an impression as the criminologist who seems to be the only one that actually understands who Butch is, without having even met him. And finally, I want to mention Bradley Whitford, who plays FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee. Now I had totally forgotten he was in the movie, probably because at the time I first saw A Perfect World I didn’t who he was, but this time I knew and wow he is great, he is not a very likeable character, but boy is he great.
I of course highly recommend you check out this movie if you haven’t yet, I think you might be surprised at how great it is, and for me it was such a treat to get to watch it again. But you shouldn’t stop there, there are tons of other Clint Eastwood films that you can watch. You can find more information on the official website, and you can also get the full box DVD with all 35 film on Amazon
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