Oh Clint, is that Oscar gold I see glittering in your squinty little eyes?Christine Collins leaves her 9-year-old son, Walter, alone at home while she must go in to work. When she returns he is missing. After several months, a boy is returned to Christine claiming to be her son, but she, of course, knows better. After voicing her suspicions to the LAPD, she is considered a nuisance and thrown in the mental ward of a local hospital, further revealing the evil corruption of the LAPD.
This movie had the absolute potential to be great. An emotionally fuelled, tearjerker plot based on a true story. Check. Some amazing acting talent (when they put effort into it). Check. Clint Freaking Eastwood as director. Check. Yet alas, Changeling merely settled for good instead of great.
The film tried to cram too much into one movie. Maybe Clint decided to try something new and skip the editing process altogether this time around. It didn't work, at least not for me. And it all makes me a little sad, because the first hour and forty-five minutes or so of the movie are fantastic. Unfortunately, more story was thrown in toward the end and its cup began to runneth over in excessive (melo)drama. Clint decided to throw in several false endings. Just when I thought the movie couldn't (read: shouldn't) continue, Clint added yet another superflous scene that felt tacked on and diminished the core story at the beginning, and he kept doing this for about half an hour. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I wish I could base my perspective on the first hour and forty-five minutes of the film, the main plot that caught my eye in the trailer. But I can't. Unfortunately I must include the last 30 minutes of the film in my overall opinion, which takes the movie from total awesomeness to being just above average. What a loss. No Oscar for you, Clint!
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2 pieces of fan mail:
I agree with you totally. The (very, very long) end of the movie almost ruined the whole experience. The performances were quite incredible.
It was kinda like the mulitple endings of the LOTR Trilogy, only I didn't mind those. I thougt it added to the overall epic that had been three years in the making and most of us were sad to see it end.
Changeling had the exact opposite effect.
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