Sling Blade Details

One of the most stunning movies you will ever see

?Sling Blade? is an emotional roller coaster of a film which establishes Billy Bob Thornton as one the best actors, writers, and directors around toady. ?Sling Blade? revolves around the story of the mentally handicapped Karl Childers, who is committed to a mental hospital at the age of twelve for double murder of his mother and her lover, and on release his attempt as an adult to make it in the outside world. Upon his release Childers is given a mechanics job fixing lawn mower engines and befriends a young boy, his widowed mother, and her gay best friend. Unfortunately, the mother's drunken, violent boyfriend cannot accept Karl getting in the way of his relationship, and sets out to make things miserable for everyone, especially the young boy. As the film moves along, there can be no doubt where things are going to end up. You can see the conflict brewing from miles away, but the action holds your interest throughout. The ultimate tragedy of ?Sling Blade? is that Childers is a basically kind hearted gentle soul whose abusive childhood and marginal intelligence made him unable to function without violence. More importantly, deep down Childers knows this; he knows he cannot function as a free man, and simply cannot protect the ones he loves without violence. The result is one of the most sympathetic and stunning performances of character ever seen in a movie, and quite deservedly has resulted as Billy Bob Thornton being regarded as one of the great heavyweights of movie acting. ?Sling Blade? is a beautifully written, acted and directed film that deserves much praise and attention, and an experience you will not forget.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Good performances - average story

Why Billy Bob Thornton won an Oscar for writing the script rather than his performance in Sling Blade is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting and occassionally harrowing story, but it's so predictable you can see the ending coming a mile away.

All of the cast are excellent - with a special mention for Lucas Black, the boy who Thornton befriends. He is such a natural actor that it's the child's unshowy performance that really gets under your skin. I really wanted to care about these people, especially Thornton's character, Carl, but because you knew exactly where it was heading there were few suprises to keep you emotionally invested.

Still, definitely worth a look at - the cast are all so good it's almost a masterclass in subtlety.