Perfect World

Eastwood shows a sense of absurdist humour in places, he's very assured as a director and Costner and his beer belly as a sympathetic criminal certainly doesn't spoil it. The portrayal of Costner as essentially an over-sensitive psycho is very impressive, but mostly brilliantly acted. Let’s celebrate every original thiller like this one. (11.05.2003)

A Perfect World is basically a pretty ordinary movie that plays with the viewer’s feelings. Usually, I rate films of this kind with no more than four stars, but this time I believe five stars are appropriate. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s been long since a film entertained me so much. Maybe, what I liked is that it basically says that some criminals and murderers are more human than religious fanatics. (02.07.2009)

Another good movie by Clint Eastwood. The story of the friendship between a prisoner and a little boy is presented in an unsentimental way and without unnecessary kitschiness. Kevin Costner makes the most out of the minimum and gives a great performance. (07.10.2004)

So, jetzt habe ich den Film endlich gesehen. Und er ist, ja, perfekt. Clint Eastwood versucht nicht (wie wir es bei ihm schon kennen), dem Publikum durch irgendwelche billigen Tricks Emotionen zu entlocken, und stellt eines der seltsamsten Paare der Filmleinwand vor. Einen Häftling und einen Jungen, die nicht unterschiedlicher sein könnten, aber gleichzeitig viel gemeinsam haben. Besonders gut hat mir gefallen, dass der Film keine Angst hat, in spannenden Momenten zu ziemlich zynischem Humor zu greifen, ohne sie herabzusetzen. Und obwohl ich eigentlich von Anfang an geahnt habe, wie das Ganze enden wird, hat es mich überhaupt nicht gestört. (16.01.2019)

This is only my second encounter with Clint Eastwood's directorial work after Million Dollar Baby, and I have to admit that this guy really knows his stuff. An incredibly powerful film about a friendship between two completely different people that probably couldn't have been made better, and even though it doesn’t offer any action, suspense or generous doses of humour, you'll go through the entire hundred and forty minutes with your mouth open. The quality of the film is due, firstly, to the excellent direction, where the individual scenes are smoothly and thoughtfully connected, secondly, to the high level of emotions, and thirdly, to the great performances. I would probably single out Kevin Costner the most, he plays a dangerous criminal, but he wins your sympathy almost immediately and you'll be rooting for him the whole time. But why did it have to end so badly? I guess it was a foregone conclusion and I could have expected it, but it still hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to run to the kitchen to blow my nose. And when a film can move and reach me like this, the full rating is an obligation. (30.04.2011)