I'm a film major and if I had to figure out a genre that I know better than any other, it would be gangster movies. I've seen just about every gangster movie, even the real old stuff like Paul Muni's Scarface (1932). Well, despite knowing the genre and cliches by heart, this movie still thrilled me. It has so many excellent ideas that you could have put a cast of the worst actors imaginable in it and it would have still been alright. But it has great actors in it. Sean Penn is very talented and here he is good as is Ed Harris, but realistically the show belongs to one man: Gary Oldman. This is his movie. I never thought I'd see him give a better performance than he did as the villain in The Professional, but he does it here. I don't want to say too much about the plot because it is one surprise after the next and the slightest detail could give something important away. Alright, I'll say this: As if plot and acting and cool scenes weren't enough, this movie has one of the best gun battles ever (after Hard Boiled and The Killer, ofcoarse).
Review of State of Grace
