Review of Changeling (2008) by Marilee A — 07 Jun 2011

Clint Eastwood delivers perhaps the most criminally underrated films of his career with the simply stellar "Changeling." Written by former journalist, J. Michael Straczynski, who was snubbed of an Academy Award nomination for his stellar screenwriting here, the film exposes a darker time in the history of Los Angeles, when police corruption was rampant, when lawlessness pervaded, and went unchecked.

The kidnapping and murder of Walter Collins, and the subsequent struggle of his mother, Christine Collins, was the beginning of a watershed moment, in which corruption had not only been exposed, but began to be purged from the the city of Los Angeles.

Angelina Jolie gives the most powerful performance of her career and really begins to allow her talent to overshadow her glaring personal life, and John Malkovich gives a strong supporting performance in a rare non-villainous role.

This is some of Eastwood's best work, and how it was so critically divisive remains a mystery to me.