In "Stone," Robert De Niro Seems More Awake Than He Has in Years

A A A Comments (0) By Nick Schager Thursday, Oct 21 2010

Robert De Niro's alarm must have finally gone off — in Stone, the actor seems more awake than he has in years. De Niro is Jack, a prison corrections officer who, abandoning all professional and common sense, foolishly screws himself by screwing Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), the wife of cornrowed arsonist inmate Stone (Edward Norton), whose parole case he must soon rule upon. Jack's failing is nominally one of the flesh, yet it's spiritual and moral deep-rot that truly plagues him, with AM-dial Christian radio blather providing an incessant backdrop for both Jack and Stone's dual quests for deliverance. Director John Curran's sure hand is most evident in precredit intro passages that create unnerving dissonance from jumps among locations, time periods, and incidents as well as in an atonal soundscape of undulating chimes, drones, and overly symbolic bee buzzes. However, despite a restrained, internalized performance by De Niro that refuses to turn Jack into an aged version of Cape Fear's Max Cady, as well as Norton taking a hoary, rough-neck caricature and infusing him with unexpected blissed-out tranquility, the B-movie-tawdry and unpersuasive plotting undercuts the material's sober concerns about sin and salvation. At odds with its own lofty and base instincts, Stone ultimately channels neither compellingly.

Related Content

Check out this week's featured ad for Restaurants
More Ads >>
 
My Voice Nation Help
0 comments
  Livefyre
Newest | Oldest
 
VOICE Daily Deals

Now Showing

Find capsule reviews, showtimes & tickets for all films in town.

Powered By VOICE Places

Slideshows

Join My Voice Nation for free stuff, film info & more!

Box Office

  1. Man of Steel, 113.1 mil, 125.1 mil
  2. This Is The End, 20.5 mil, 32.8 mil
  3. Now You See Me, 10.3 mil, 80.0 mil
  4. Fast & Furious 6, 9.4 mil, 219.6 mil
  5. The Purge, 8.2 mil, 51.8 mil
  6. The Internship, 7.0 mil, 31.0 mil
  7. Epic, 6.0 mil, 95.4 mil
  8. Star Trek Into Darkness, 5.7 mil, 210.5 mil
  9. After Earth, 3.8 mil, 54.2 mil
  10. Iron Man 3, 2.9 mil, 399.6 mil
Movie Title, Weekly Earnings, Total Earnings

Movie Trailers

View all movie trailers >>
More News Stories >
©2013 New Times BPB, LLC, All rights reserved.
Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places Broward / Palm Beach

    Voice Places

    Find everything you're looking for in your city

  • Happy Hour App

    Happy Hour App

    Find the best happy hour deals in your city

  • Daily Deals

    Daily Deals

    Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city