Review of State of Grace

Introduction

Sean Penn and Gary Oldman star in this overly-long (2hrs 10min) New York Gangsterthon. Only instead of the usual Italian-American suspects, the bad guys are Irish-American. Penn (who still looks like a silent comedy star) plays an undercover cop who returns to the old neighbourhood to infiltrate and compromise a deal being brokered between the aforementioned Irish-American gangsters and the more usual variety. He hooks up with his boyhood best pal (Oldman), brother of the gangsters` top man and sets into motion a tragedy that snowballs towards the St. Patrick`s Day parade.

Full, and I mean full, of swearing and violence this movie is typical Sopranos-Godfather territory. Blood runs freely and everybody is thoroughly beastly to one another. But they can`t shoot for toffee.

Video

The movie, presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic, is beautifully shot by Jordan Cronenweth although the slo-mo of the gory climax of the movie is distinctly contrived. The print is clean and shows little wear and tear for a thirteen-year-old movie.

Audio

The sound mix is in Dolby 5.1 surround, but little is done with the dynamics of the format. The screen-oriented soundtrack is resonant and captures all the swearing perfectly.

Features

Another bare-bones MGM release, with a theatrical trailer and multilingual subtitles.

Conclusion

Pretty strong stuff, but if you`re a Sopranos fan you might get a kick out of it. Ed Harris turns in a chilling performance as Gary Oldman`s big brother.