Review of Sling Blade (1996) by Norman B — 15 Jul 2013

"Some call it a kaiser blade, I call it a SLING BLADE, umm hmm.".

A supremely touching, intensely emotional and heart-shattering whirlwind of pure brilliance from Writer/Director/Star Billy Bob Thornton. Sling Blade catapults into cinematic greatness and ranks with classics such as "Rain Man", "Of Mice And Men" and "Scent Of A Woman". This one is intense folks, and it's hard not to fall in love with the central character that Billy Bob Thornton portrays. An intensely dramatic revenge story with a kick, Sling Blade is pure mastery, a true classic in contemporary filmmaking. A hard-hitting, truly touching, completely marvelous and absolutely stunning work of pure genius from everyone involved. It's not as disturbing as everyone makes it out to be, but with that being said, the tone of the film is very dark and quite brooding but also cheerful and uplifting, the central character is just a complete mystery. A truly wonderful drama that instantly touches your heart that keeps you engaged and on the edge of your seat for the entire runtime. Stunning, original, brilliant, emotional, funny, violent and legendary, this film has something for absolutely everyone. It's a tale of friendship, loyalty, respect and the human condition, what to do in the face adversity and the horrors that verbal and physical abuse can cause. An all-around work of brilliance that goes down as one of my personal favorites of all time. A hard-hitting emotional knockout of seriously epic proportions. I very highly recommend this film to all, even children, but with parental guidance of course.

The acting in this film is legendary. Billy Bob Thornton's performance as Carl is one of the greatest single acts of all time, a legendary and masterful performance by a man of pure talent. Thornton carries the entire film on his back and commands the screen with powerful authority. Dwight Yoakam gives a brilliant performance, easily the best of his career. Lucas Black gives a young breakout performance and the late John Ritter was awesome as well. A great example of all-around genius.