DVD Review: Slingblade (B-)

Sling Blade
Directed By: Billy Bob Thornton
Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam and John Ritter
Grade: B-

Review by Scott Standish

Sling Blade is an incredible tour de force for Billy Bob Thornton. His acting, directing, and for the most part, even his writing is top notch. However the 135 minute running time of this film is way too long, considering the slow pace at which this film moves. Although I do recommend this film, particularly for the performances (Thornton and Dwight Yoakam are great), there were some major sticking points holding me back from completely embracing Sling Blade.

As most people know, Sling Blade is a re-make of Billy Bob Thornton's short film "Some People Call It A Sling Blade". It tells the story of a mentally challenged man who is released from the hospital, many years after committing a horrible murder. It is at this point that a minor flaw in the script appears: The caretaker of the hospital releases the main character, Karl Childers, simply because his time has run out on his sentence, even though he admits that he is potentially a threat to society. The next day, Karl returns and asks if he can stay because he has no place to go. Now what hospital would simply release a crazed killer from their care without at least arranging a half way house, or checking on family connections for the patient? The script then tries to show this caretaker as someone who looks out for Karl. Wasnt this the same guy that just released him without coordinating any after incarceration arrangements? The script won a Best Screenplay Academy Award for Billy Bob Thornton, so the plot here does make sense, and its truly engaging, but hey, this minor flaw just stuck out for me.

Script issues aside, the biggest problem with Sling Blade is actually the horrendous score by Daniel Lanois. I really like Lanois' work in general, especially his work with Eno and U2. But in Sling Blade, his trippy guitar work and telegraphed sentimentalism is just way over the top. Every time I got drawn into a scene (either from Thornton's performance or the great acting work of the underrated John Ritter), the music would swell up and overtake the scene. Sometimes less is more, and the music here just should have been scaled back (or not used at all).

Does Sling Blade suck? No, its a fine film that is carried by the great performances of Billy Bob Thornton, John Ritter and Dwight Yoakam. I only wish that the Lanois score was toned down, and that the film was shortened a bit. Thornton could have lopped 15-20 minutes out of this easily, and sped up the pace. Those changes alone would have made Sling Blade a more effective film.

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