Tony Goldwyn is probably on the sunnier side of actors turned directors, but still, a very far journey away from true talent behind the screen. He pieced together a solid cast for the film, among other good decisions, but the film falls slightly better than the average movie based on a true story. Normally a true story worth giving screen time has a story interesting enough to carry the viewer anyway. This one had both solid acting and a good story. I think it is apparent enough to say the flaws of the film are in the direction of the story for the film. There are so many moments in the film that would have been better cut out.Talented directors can reveal a character's personality without showing constant irrelevant moments. Hilary Swank, a 2 time 'Best Actress' again shows me how little I know about winning that award. She is baffling to me, I haven't seen anything that shocked me from her yet, and she managed 2 'Best Actress' awards. She is a good performer, but not one that can carry a whole project herself. If you were to compare her with lets say Julia Roberts, there are different screen presences, a distinct talent separation. Roberts can carry projects on her own shoulders, where as Swank, in my opinion cannot. It is hard to speak my thoughts about Swank without seeming to be harsh. It isn't that I am bothered by her performances, but she doesn't seem to be on the level of greatness her accomplishments would seem to put her in. Overall her performance is a good one with many moments of an unreal human being, she needs to work on that balance.
Sam Rockwell, the most interesting person in the film, and best actor of the film, shows us why he is many levels ahead of Swank. It is nice to finally see him getting more challenging roles to project his talents onto the big screen. It is a pleasure watching him perform. In this film, there are moments that bother me in which Rockwell is in the scene, but its just because the scene itself exists, not the performance.
Melissa Leo, even though she gives a minor amount of screen time, really shows up the whole cast. She could become my most interested actress at the rate of her couple flicks.
The film is very vanilla, it is a fast-forwarded, and blurry version of "Erin Brockovich" meets "Shawshank Redemption".
I really felt like this movie had more of a made for television quality to it, but maybe it was just the recycled story of so many before it, true or not. If the woman was the one jailed, or perhaps of African American ethnicity, it would have been produced by Oprah and aired on her new network. But, regardless, the only reason why the story wouldn't have struck many nerves, regardless of the circumstances, is because in a broad stroke, we have seen this story 2.5 million times already.
"Conviction"
6 / 10
