Movies

Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) stars with Oscar nominee Kate Winslet (Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) in a powerfully gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller hailed as "provocative!" (ABC-TV) An electrifying, suspenseful journey into deadly conspiracy and murderous deception begins when a respected professor who may - or may not - be guilty is charged with a brutal crime. The Life of David Gale is a brilliantly unpredictable thriller, which builds relentlessly to a shocking final twist guaranteed to blow you away!

For two years I have had a coworker asking me on a semi-frequent basis, "Have you watched The Life of David Gale, yet?" I finally told her I have now seen it. I hope she is able to sleep better.

We have a man who has been a well known public figurehead (Spacey) in opposition of the death penalty (in Texas no less) sitting, rather ironically, on Death Row for murder. He has remained silent about his case, though now wants to talk. He offers exclusive rights for an interview to one publication and requests the journalist by name (Winslet).

She is given the opportunity to speak with him in a series of three two-hour blocks. One each day for the three days prior to his execution. What he tells her over the course of these talks is a story of his divorce, not having custody of his son, and his life as a professor of philosophy. When she walks in to meet with him the first time, she has a pre-determined opinion of him and his crime. Will that change as they talk?

Gale tells her that he wants her to find the truth, though she denies there is any more truth than what has been introduced at trial. Maybe he can make her believe otherwise.

The movie was ok; nothing to write home about. The acting was surprisingly poor. For two people who had received such impressive accolades, I would generally expect much more. Nothing seemed at all rehearsed. It was as if everyone was reading their lines for the first time. There was a lack of feeling in almost every word spoken. The saving grace was Laura Linney (<3). I thought she was good.

The story itself was entertaining enough, though a touch predictable. I am not one to sit and try to figure things out ahead of time. I do not want to ruin the story for myself, but this time I didn't have much choice. The pieces all practically fell right into place. I hate to say the quote in the synopsis touting the movie as "a brilliantly unpredictable thriller" is not entirely true...

I was entertained. I will not try and pretend I wasn't. I cannot deny the feeling I had when the movie was over that they could have done a lot more with it, however. I am not in a huge rush to see this one again, but I cannot think of any good reason(s) why most people wouldn't enjoy it.

Buy it from Amazon | Discuss it