moonspinner55 Forest Whitaker plays recently-paroled man in New Mexico who did hard time for killing a deputy officer, hoping to restart his life but butting heads with Harvey Keitel as the five-times-reelected sheriff who believes Whitaker is "a loose cannon." Mild French-Belgian-Algerian-US co-production, a remake of the French-Italian 1973 version, seems to be on a well-trodden dramatic path--that of a battle-of-wills between the two men--and yet, it doesn't even follow through on this angle (it's too limp). At its core, the picture is an updated western (with new-fangled overtures to Allah), and Harvey Keitel's hard-ass sheriff is a character we've seen him do before on better occasions. Brenda Blethyn upstages both men as Whitaker's parole officer. ** from ****

leonblackwood Review: I really wasn't a big fan of this movie because it takes ages for something to happen and when it does, it still isn't that great. Its basically about a man who gets released from prison after killing a police officer and he tries to fit back into everyday life. The cops make his life hell because he murdered one of there own, so he struggles to fight against his violent impulses whilst staying true to his new found Islamic faith. When he finally gets pushed to the edge, he is forced to take matters into his own hands which goes against his trusty parole officer rules and his new found religion. All the way through the film, Forest Whitaker is being his usual moody self, trying to make an honest life for him and his girlfriend. Harvey Keitel is only in a few scenes so you stuck with a moody movie which really gets boring after a while. Once Whitaker reaches breaking point, the showdown at the end wasn't that great but I did like his parole officer who was played by Brenda Blethyn. Anyway, I personally got fed up with the movie after a while and I didn't find it that entertaining. Disappointing!Round-Up: Forest Whitaker has become one of the most moody actors of all time. He very rarely cracks a smile in any of his films, except for films like Our Family Wedding, Phenomenon and Good Morning Vietnam which were made earlier on in his career. He has put in some amazing performances in the Butler, the Last King of Scotland, Phone Booth and the Panic Room but I still find his acting quite hard to watch at times. Anyway, I didn't find his acting that great in this film and the script didn't help matters. It was made by the French director Rachid Bouchareb who brought you London River, Little Senegal and Just Like A Woman which were all low budget movies which didn't make it into the mainstream. Although this film had 2 big named stars, it still didn't get the big Hollywood distribution treatment because the concept was poor and quite depressing after a while.I recommend this movie to people who are into their deep dramas about a violent man who finds religion in prison and finds it hard to deal with day to day life when he gets released. 2/10

dr_bonone I just have finished to watch this film and it was quite good. Probably best Witaker role in years. He looks great on this movie. Also he has lost some pounds and he remembered me Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction. I have to say that is not an excellent film because the ending. It is a slow good film. Harvey is quite good too. On the other hand the ending was open to imagination. I do not why, all the movies I watched lately, has an open ending. The movie finishes and you do not know what is going to happen between the main character, the sheriff or the police woman. I do not like how it ends. That is all. To add I love the backgrounds and photography.

JvH48 I saw this film at the Berlinale film festival 2014, where it was part of the official competition. It allows us sufficient time to get acquainted with the five main characters: (1) Garnett who is just released from prison after an 18 years sentence, (2) the sheriff whose deputy was killed by Garnett some 18 years ago, (3) an underworld-er who wants to enlist Garnett for a shady job, (4) Garnett's new girl friend who he met after his release while opening a bank account, and (5) last-but-not-least his assigned parole officer who takes her job very seriously, and even ruffles the sheriff's furs when the need arises. We also meet several side characters who are portrayed very well, in spite of their much shorter appearance. Yet, the full two hours running time stretches our patience unnecessarily.The plot itself is not new in essence (ex-convict tries to keep on track), but this variant offers many novel directions given the ingredients included. The finale is not fully predictable, which is a good thing. Yet, I was not very satisfied with the chosen outcome (no details to avoid spoilers), preferably something more optimistic could be thought of. Further, I'm not sure about the need for some side tracking sub-plots, e.g. Garnett's conversion to Islam, the issues around the Mexican border, and amply showing off the landscape. Not all these are necessary for the core story, maybe even deemed redundant and better left out to get a more concise story.