anybody else thinks the film's 2nd half is poor?

The film changes focus but it actually becomes a more intriguing revenge tale.

It's that man again!!

A lot of people feel that way. The movie certainly changes pace but except for a few contrivances I found it very interesting.

24/04/1916

Yeah the second half of this movie is awful. It's hard to say why it doesn't but it work at all. Perhaps it me the complete lack chemistry between any of the adult actors.

The first half is incredibly powerful and gut-wrenching in parts, but I do agree that it shifts when the 2nd half comes along. I wholeheartedly agree with some other posts on here that the child actors are much better than the adult counterparts. They have a better chemistry, more emotion, and are just all around better.

Then there's Minnie Driver, who (to me) brings no believability to any dramatic role I have ever seen her in. She always seems to be "acting" and never comes across as "real." I don't mind her so much in some comedic roles I have seen her in (mostly in guest roles on sitcoms), but I find her very annoying in this movie and in "Good Will Hunting."

But again, the first half is amazing.

I agree, I didn't like the second half of this film either.

The characters became cold & wooden and the plot dragged.



I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

It certainly goes downhill fast once the court case takes over. For one thing, it seems to become sort of morally confused. For another, the way the trial is set up and unfolds, is quite unbelievable at times (nobody is able to figure out that the prosecutor is a close childhood friend of the defendants? The judge allows a character witness for the murder victim to be brought in and questioned at great length even though up until that point, the character of the victim had never been an issue? And then the witness promptly breaks down and admits to every wrongdoing, including rape, without missing a beat...) No wonder there is no record of any such trial having ever taken place...



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

You know what? I agree. The first half when the boys are kids and in the boys' home, I liked that very much. When the stars came on the screen with them as adults, I sort of lost interest. I didn't care about the gangsters and in fact, felt the whole trial here was similar to the Simpson case from a year before, where guilty men go free on a murder charge, although here it is the prosecution thwarting justice.