1996 - Sling Blade

I've heard a lot of good things about this movie, so I figured I'd check it out. Plus our audio guy at work likes to play sound bites from this movie over the PL, so maybe now I'll know what they're talking about.

"Sling Blade" is about a mentally unbalanced man named Karl, who killed his mom and her boyfriend with a sling blade when he was a kid. He spend most of his life in a mental institution, but at the beginning of the movie they are about to release him. The film follows him through his life after his release (and his eventual return).

Karl meets a young boy and his mother who sort of "adopt" him and let him live in their garage while he works at a nearby machine shop. However, the mother has a DOUCHBAG of a boyfriend. Seriously, the guy is the biggest jerk. He's mean to Karl, he's mean the kid, he's mean to the mother, he's basically a horrible human being.

Billy Bob Thornton did a really great job playing Karl. He is so completely in character that if you didn't know who he was, you'd think he was really mentally challenged. I can definitely see why he was nominated for an Oscar.

The only thing I can really complain about was the pacing. I mean, it was a great story, but I felt it was a little slow at times. It was one of those movies that WHILE you're watching it, you're like, "meh...I don't really get the fuss. It's not bad, but not that great and kinda boring". But AFTER you watch it and you look at the entire thing as a whole, you get why it won a bunch of awards.

Random Thoughts:
-This movie has the longest opening I have ever seen. It’s 18 minutes in before we get to the opening credits.
-Is it bad that I was kind of hoping he’d kill that bastard?

Verdict?
4.5/5 stars. I really liked it, but it just loses half a star for the pacing being a little slow at times.