Best movie of this year hands down!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The Case Study in this remake is exactly: How an Algerian director (Rachid Bouchareb) managed to get a classic French film (Deux hommes dans la ville) and make his propaganda against the supposed racism to Muslims. The original movie "Deux hommes dans la ville" was written and directed in order to reprobate judicial system in France, which in 1973 yet was adopting the guillotine as a death penalty method. While the original movie hero (Alain Delon) is an ex-con who's character makes the viewer coincides 100% facing the cruelty of society and the bias of the authorities, in this remake the corresponding hero is an inhibited, psycho-neurotic character who almost at the first 10 minutes of the movie make audiences think "well the Sheriff (Harvey Keitel) is doing a good job trying to destroy Garnett's life". Unfortunate and totally uncool the choice of Forest Whitaker in the role of the main hero.

Not many movies/performances/actors compel me to spend the time to write a review that can be read by many others here but if you are a lover of film and the art of acting, you can't help but be completely overtaken by a performance like the one given by Forest Whitaker.Say what you will about the plot whether you like it or agree with the storyline, you can't help but feel for Forest's character. It's easy for us looking in from the outside on someone like the character Forest plays, someone who is trying to turn his life around and live a normal life but to those who have a direct connection to his crimes (Harvey's character), it's a completely different story.There is no question Forest's performance carries this movie from beginning to end and if you love the art of film making and know and understanding acting, you owe yourself to watch this movie.

My summary line making the point that this is a remake many years removed from its (french) original. I haven't watched the original, so I cannot tell you how the two movies compare. I can only judge this by its own merits (and faults). What I can say, is that Whitaker is giving an excellent performance. It's also nice to see Harvey Keitel in a bigger role, even if it sometimes turns a bit comic evil, he has the gravitas to pull it in.The age old question within this movie is: can we escape our pasts? Can we change and become someone/something different? Can we ever truly repent and is there such a thing as forgiveness? Those are heavy topics and the movie does not stay away from other topics as well (like religion, though it's not really made a big strong point, other than being there). You can tell early on, if this is the kind of "entertainment" you like to watch or not ... the rhythm/pace stays the same throughout (occasional outbursts excluded)

As a remake of the Jose Giovanni's film made forty years ago, this movie is a true achievement. A superb crime drama that would be better than the genuine material. The characters are all very well shown: good and evil ones as well. I particularly love the female parole officer. I fell for her in the first minutes, in the sequence where she cleans her Glock up, whilst listening a Barbara song. So cute. Yes, yes, I love this character, so unusual, so lonely too, who fights with all her guts for what she believes in. Her character reminds me some ones from the Coen brothers' films. Remember FARGO.Besides, Tommy Lee Jones could have made this film. The settings, characters, way of filming, everything here reminds me Tommy Lee Jones. A true poignant film, devastating, that hit you in the face. And, once and for all, Forrest Whitaker is one of the best actor in the world, and unfortunately too often underrated.