Word: thornton
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...Thornton, you see, wants to have his box of chocolates and hack it to pieces, too. Directing his own self-scripted performance (did he cater it, too?), Thornton plays Karl Childers, a mildly retarded mental patient who, in his late thirties, is released back into the small Southern town he left twenty-five years before. That, you see, was the day he found Mama in bed with a neighbor and did a little number on them with the weapon of the title. Karl, though, is more half-baked than he is half-mad, the kind of convicted murderer who Didn...
Like "Gump," "Sling Blade" creates a fascinating protagonist but never fully decides what to do with him. Thornton is nonetheless a wonder to behold in the role, the rare actor who turns obvious mannerisms into a palpable personality. Karl ends all of his sentences with a guttural self-affirmation ("I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody, mmmhmmm") as though all of his statements contained a deeper truth that he alone fully appreciates...
...Thornton unfortunately saddles his script with too many Autistic Saint cliches--he fixes dead lawn mowers in minutes, he out-Gumps Gump on the football field--but he steadily reveals an emotional core that feels honest and unforced...
...Sling Blade" is, moreover, a genuine ensemble piece. Thornton is attentive and respectful of all of his characters, even of the monsters, and it avoids becoming, like another recent auteur project, "The Kenneth Branagh Story...
...since I reckon no conclusion this certain needs a build-up this long, mmm-hmmm. To its credit, though, "Sling Blade" plays out among real human beings, a welcome break in a year of airborne cows and impossible missions. A few swift cuts in the editing room and Thornton could have had a real winner. As is, "Sling Blade" is a worthy runner...