WubsTheFadger
Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerJohn Lee Hancock has written a beautiful and touching story. The plot is powerful and moving in many ways.The acting is great Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, Keith Szarabajka, and T.J. Lowther all perform well. Kevin Costner gives the best performance as a likeable, kind, and caring criminal in need of freedom.The pacing is smooth but the runtime is a little overlong.Pros: Powerful and touching story, great acting, amazing performance by Kevin Costner, and smooth pacingCons: Overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 8.8
MartinHafer
The story begins with two men escaping from a Texas prison. Of the two, Butch Haynes (Costner) is a career criminal. The other is more of a psychopath and it's only a matter of moments before Terry murders someone without much reason. So, when the pair come upon a family in their home, Butch prevents Terry from committing various atrocities on the family but instead convinces him that they should just kidnap the young son, Buzz. Soon, Terry is about to hurt the boy...and Butch kills him.Despite being a killer and escaped con, he isn't all bad. Oddly, there is a real soft spot inside him for the boy. It seems that, in an odd way, Butch sees a bit of himself in the kid and he wants to make their escape fun, if it's possible, for the kid. After a while, the kid begins to bond with the man and the two set off on some crazy adventure. But remember...it's not all fun and games and Butch is a desperate criminal...so what's next?Even though Clint Eastwood and a group of criminologists and deputies are also in the film, they seemed almost irrelevant and the film could have preceded just as well without them. As for Costner, he was terrific and the film was strange but very watchable.
HotToastyRag
Kevin Costner is a pretty likable guy. Even when he's an escaped convict who kidnaps a child. While Perfect World isn't a comedy, it's hardly a drama either. Costner kidnaps T.J. Lowther, and practically from the get-go, they act like bosom buddies. Only once does this kid ask to be taken back to his family, which I found a little confusing. He's been kidnapped by a gun-waving convict, and he bonds to him as a father figure. But, since the boy's father isn't in the picture, I guess that might be the point of the movie.Clint Eastwood (who also directs) is the cutie-pie cop trailing Costner, and Laura Dern is absolutely adorable as the federal agent assigned to help him. Her Southern accent is very charming, and they make a very cute on screen couple, whether or not romance enters the plot.No one's character is really developed or explained. Costner is obviously a bad guy, but he fathers this kid for no reason. Despite teaching the boy to steal, con, lie, and run from the police, he's supposed to share a special "aw shucks" bond with him? The kid interrupts Costner when he's about to get lucky, but instead of shooing him away or yelling at him, he says goodbye to the woman, gets back in the car with the kid, and tells the impressionable boy that he was in love with the woman (a waitress he only knew for five minutes). Is he trying to teach the boy good or bad things? I wasn't really sure. All in all, it's a pretty predictable movie, but it's not a terrible one.
FilmBuff1994
A Perfect World is a fantastic movie with a very well developed storyline and an outstanding cast.I was really expecting this to be a very thrilling crime movie,but it was very much a drama that follows an escaped convict who kidnaps a child that soon makes him change his way.Kevin Costner does an outstanding job portraying this criminal,and the relationship between him and the young child is so sweet and sentimental that it is very hard to believe they are just acting,Clint Eastwood's directing in this is absolutely brilliant.The movie is still very much a thriller as well though,there are some very intense scenes and the characters dialogue is very dramatic and well delivered.Surprisingly sweet and a very easy story to get sucked in to,A Perfect World is a great movie that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good drama or crime film. An escaped prisoner becomes attached to the boy he kidnaps while on the run from Texas Rangers.Best Performance: Kevin Costner Worst Performance: Ray McKinnon
AD
