Solid, rarely showy performances, meticulously recreated detective work and moments of pure unadulterated grief accent this whodunit, a movie that will have those who haven't read the book fooled for much of its length.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
17 Oct 2003
rotten:
Too depressing to fill audiences with delight, but it does seem to validate questionable attitudes, especially an indifference to the suffering of innocent people and a willingness to shoot first and ask questions later.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
24 Oct 2003
fresh:
Works as a straight-up detective story, and the acting is often breathtaking.
– Bill Muller,
Arizona Republic,
14 Nov 2003
fresh:
Sean Penn is so frighteningly good in this movie that he outdoes even the best of his earlier work.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
7 Aug 2004
fresh:
It is in many ways Eastwood's tightest movie for some time, and certainly his darkest since Unforgiven; indeed, the ending offers as corrosive an assessment of the limits of American justice as anything in his career.