What's up with Australia? Recently, they've been producing some of the best actors I've ever seen. Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Guy Pierce, Hugh Jackman... then there's Cate Blanchett. I first saw Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth," an excellent movie that took "The Godfather," made it a costume drama, and made "Michael Corleone" a female. Okay, that's not really how the movie was made, but it may as well have been, because that's what the movie was like. By the way, that's a compliment, not an insult. "Elizabeth" was an excellent movie, and Cate Blanchett, who starred in it, blew me away. Though she's been in several movies since then ("Pushing Tin," "An Ideal Husband," and "The Talented Mr. Ripley"), I haven't seen any of them, so "The Gift" is my first time seeing this wonderful actress since her astonishing performance in "Elizabeth." Well, all I've gotta say about her performance in "The Gift" is that once again, she blew me away. Though this role is completely different from her role as Queen Elizabeth I, she nailed it. Her performance was flawless, as was her American accent, which had a southern twang.
"The Gift" is a murder-mystery where a woman with the power (or "gift") of seeing the future is called upon to help solve the case. I figured out who did it early on (not because, like Triple-H would say, "I'm that damn good," but because it's not that hard to figure out), but the fun isn't in solving it as much as it is watching the movie as it gets there. It's a slow-moving film, but the movie isn't boring at all. "The Gift" has a great story, incredible performances, and excellent directing.
As I said earlier, Cate Blanchett is great in this movie. She IS the movie, carrying it all by herself, which isn't to say that the other performances are bad. Not at all. Giovanni Ribisi is excellent. I'm not sure how I feel about Ribisi as an actor. Sometimes, like in "Saving Private Ryan," he's excellent. The thing is, a lotta the time that he's acting, he seems to play an idiot, like some kinda retarded guy. I don't know what's up with that. He wasn't like that in "Saving Private Ryan," or "Boiler Room" (a movie I didn't like very much, though Ribisi was decent in it). Well, in "The Gift," Ribisi does the retard shtick, but it works. He plays a guy who isn't all there anyway, so it's appropriate. This is the best acting I've ever seen outta him. Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who was so good in "Boys Don't Cry," was excellent. Sporting a she-mullet, she does the white trash redneck thing perfectly. Keanu Reeves, who plays her husband, is pretty damn good. I'm not a big fan of his acting, but he was pretty good, and very scary, in this movie. Besides, I have no reason to dis Keanu anymore since I've found someone who's a worse actor than he is... Ryan Phillippe. Also, there's Greg Kinnear, who is very good, but the one getting the most press is Katie Holmes. Why? Because she appears topless. That's right, folks, the cutie from that horrible TV show, "Dawson's Creek," shows off her boobies in "The Gift." I've always thought that Katie Holmes was a beautiful woman, and I've done my fair share of surfing the net trying to find pictures of her, but although I've never seen her nude until this movie, I don't think her boobs were ever that big. Did she get implants? I hope not, because if she did, I lost a little respect for her. Oh well. As for her performance in the movie, it wasn't bad, but I thought her accent was a little over the top. Also, she was totally miscast. I just couldn't believe her as the skanky slut she played in the movie. But at least I saw her topless.
"The Gift" was directed by Sam Raimi, a guy who's come a long way since directing "The Evil Dead." He's well-known among the film geeks for his earlier work ("The Evil Dead," "Evil Dead II," "Army of Darkness," "Crimewave," "Darkman," and "The Quick and the Dead"), but recently he's been directing more "normal" movies, like "A Simple Plan" (which critics loved) and "For Love of the Game" (which critics hated). I haven't seen either of them. The thing is, it looks like Sam Raimi is going back to old school, and the film geeks are drooling over his next movie. You may have heard of it, it's about a certain Marvel Comics web-slinger.
The guys who wrote "The Gift" are Billy Bob Thornton (the actor... he's actually a good writer, he wrote the great "Sling Blade") & Tom Epperson (together they wrote "One False Move," an excellent movie that I saw years ago). Billy Bob Thornton seems to like to keep it in the family. He was one of the actors in "One False Move," the movie he co-wrote. That movie starred Bill Paxton, and they later starred in "A Simple Plan" together, which was directed by Sam Raimi. Raimi then directed "The Gift," which was another that Thornton CO-wrote Also, "The Gift" starred Cate Blanchett, who Billy Bob worked with in "Pushing Tin." Pretty interesting, right?
"The Gift"
is a very good movie that was probably a little bit too long. It's a very
absorbing movie with fantastic performances by Cate Blanchett and Giovanni
Ribisi, and great directing by Sam Raimi. Oh yeah, and you get to see Katie
Holmes' boobies.
Scale of 1-10: 8