The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition)
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Movie Reviews of The Life of David Gale (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an amazing movie that everyone should see. I think those who reviewed this movie in a negative manner simply did not understand it.Movie Review: View it as a simple thriller/mystery or in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment
Summary: 4 Stars
The Life of David Gale is a movie about the last days of David Gale, an anti-death penalty activist and college philosophy professor sitting on death row for the rape and murder of a colleague. For reasons that are never entirely clear, he grants three doomsday interviews to a young, energetic, principled reporter named Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet). Bitsey travels to Texas's death row to visit Gale in the last three full days of his life. Gale implies that framing a liberal activist for murder is the ultimate triumph, and dangles before Bitsey clues to unraveling his innocence. He doesn't want her to get him off in a last minute stay, but he does want her to keep his legacy alive and continue to research his case.
The movie is no Dead Man Walking, nor is it a clear liberal rant against capital punishment. It's a thriller/mystery that can be viewed as just that (with a few forced twists and plot holes), or it can be considered in the larger context of the debate over capital punishment in a death-happy state like Texas. It's a movie about human foibles and their cost to our families. Laura Linney, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Winslet deliver top notch performances.
Movie Review: Something Was Missing
Summary: 3 Stars
I don't know quite how to put it. The Life of David Gale is certainly a message film sprinkled with suspense, but the ending left me bewildered. Why did the murder suspect mail Bitsey a second tape that showed David Gale involved with the suicide? Other questions I raise are: What motive did Berlin have for charging Gale with rape? Why did Gale's wife and son flee to Italy or was it Spain? Is Gale's situation so hopeless that he decides to die for the cause? Gale and the murder suspect didn't seem to have a strong bond of friendship, yet what would compel the murder suspect to travel to Europe with a suitcase of money and make sure that Gale's wife receives it? Does anyone have any answers? The film is complex with its layers of left wing politics, morality plays, and Hitchcockian twists, but still comes up short. A classic film that contrasts innocence with guilt without the death penalty issue is The Wrong Man starring Henry Fonda. Movie Review: One of the great undiscovered flicks.
Summary: 5 Stars
Just one of those great movies that didnt get the recognition that it deserved. Of course, Kevin Spacey is one of the best actors of his time in my opinion, but overall this movie is a must see.Movie Review: Worth watching
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a film of two intentions - a thriller, and a message movie. It is a worthy intention to put the message into some context as a thriller to make it palatable; it makes the medicine easier to swallow. However the film is beset by a problem of balance .. Where the thriller slacks off, the message seems too in your face, and where the thriller takes off it seems too shallow for want of the message.
Alan Parker handled the balance so much better in Mississippi Burning, that if you came to this expecting the same standard you would be very disappointed.
However, the cast do adequately, and Spacey and Linney do brilliantly, adding the depth that makes the film engrossing enough to enjoy watching.
Those who are expecting the film to hold its own as a thriller will be disappointed however.