I guess the main reason why I wanted to see this movie was because it was written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also played a role in it. Even though the man hasn't really been able to prove a lot with his work as a director, I must say that I almost always appreciate him as an actor. He's perhaps not the most popular actor in Hollywood, but in my opinion he sure is one of the better ones.

In this movie he plays the role of Karl Childers, a grown, but simple man who is released from the psychiatric hospital where he has been hospitalized since the age of twelve. He had to stay in that hospital for so long because he murdered his own mother and her lover, believing that they were doing something wrong. He returns to the town where he lived the first twelve years of his life and it doesn't take long for him to get a job as a mechanic, fixing all kinds of small motors at a local repair shop. In the same town he also meets Frank, a young and friendly boy who immediately seems to like this strange man. Soon Karl is invited by Frank's mother to stay in their garage, much against the will of her alcoholic and abusive boyfriend Doyle. While Karl's friendship with Frank gets stronger, the tension between him and Doyle keeps building up, until reaching its final climax...

Now that I've finally seen this movie, I can only say that it's too bad that I didn't give it a try earlier. Especially thanks to the magnificent performance by Billy Bob Thornton, this is a movie that is more than just worth a watch. But also the other actors like Dwight Yoakam, Natalie Canerday,... did a very good job. The entire movie feels very realistic, is quite sober and never tries to be too dramatic. This is the kind of movie that could have become very preachy, but it hasn't and that's something that I really appreciate. Add to this some good directing and you know that Thornton has done a very nice job with this movie.

This isn't exactly a typical Hollywood movie, not in its story and certainly not in its approach towards the subject. This could easily have become some kind of cheesy TV-movie, but Billy Bob Thornton has made a very good movie out of it instead. I really appreciated his work as a director, actor and writer in this movie, liked the story and was intrigued by the acting of all the actors. That's why I give it a 7.5/10, maybe even an 8/10.

"Sling Blade" is a film that takes you well outside the confines of your every day movie experience, and well outside your comfort zone as a passive participant in what unfolds on screen. Through the character of Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton),one is forced to examine one's own concepts of normal behavior and innate human decency. Because even though Karl is mentally defective, he has an uncanny ability to see through the clutter of disaffected lives and get directly to the point about what's right and wrong. I don't think I've ever watched a scene from a movie so excruciatingly heart rending as Karl's description about burying his newborn sibling. All the while, I couldn't help feeling that maybe there wasn't anything wrong with that baby, other than Karl's father not wanting it around to become another Karl someday. You put yourself in Karl's shoes as he searches around the shed where he lives to find a shoe box to serve as a coffin, and it's impossible not to well up and choke back a tear for all the inhumanity in the world that goes on day after day. Maybe that's a little more than Thornton the writer and director meant to convey, but that sense comes through nevertheless, at least for me.

And yet, there are times in the film when you just can't hold back laughter at the utter incongruity of it all. Like the time Karl tries to recreate the bathroom joke about the two guys on the bridge. Karl just mashes it all to hell as Linda Wheatley knowingly responds "I'll be dog". Well now, I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but I just couldn't help busting a gut over that one. Or how about young Frank Wheatley (Lucas Black) as he tries one last time to make an impression on his sweetheart crush. He knows it's futile, but summons the courage to bring her a cheap bouquet from the five and dime. Thornton captures the angst of growing up and trying to be accepted in such a simple scene and does it in a way that parallels Karl's own experience.

Now even when you figure out how the movie is going to end, the anticipation of getting there is what makes the journey compelling. The shock, if there is one, lies in the same matter of fact approach that Karl applies to his everyday life. There is not so much a pre-meditation about what Karl will do, but more a sense of what the situation demands to protect the family that has come to love and accept him as one of their own.

"Sling Blade" is a remarkable film. Without it, I don't know if Billy Bob Thornton would have even crossed our radar yet as an artist. But here, in one stroke, Thornton makes his mark on our consciousness with a bold and brilliant story that challenges our perceptions and makes us think, and that's a rare commodity today.

Billy Bob Thornton is a strange man. I am not talking 'eccentric' but blood drinking, self-branding and just plain whacked out strange. During his short but extremely public marriage to Angelia Jolie, they seemed to take pleasure in reveling in the weirdness of their marriage in a way that seemed reminiscent of the life of Michael Jackson--with his suspended animation machine, a best friend who is a chimp, etc. However, despite my personal distaste for the man, I've gotta admit, reluctantly, that he's got some amazing talent. I loved him in THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS as well as his comic performance in INTOLERABLE CRUELTY but his most amazing triumph is this film, SLING BLADE. Unlike the other films, Billy Bob was not just a performer but he wrote the original short film (SOME FOLKS CALL IT A SLINGBLADE),the screenplay and even directed the film--and it was terrific, so I have to give this very strange guy his due. He is very, very talented.....and weird.

The movie is a film version of his play. It's about a mentally retarded man who kills his mother and her lover and spends most of his adult life in an institution as a result. However, he really wasn't completely aware of what he'd done--and much of this tragedy was due to his own mental disability. Now, as the film begins, after decades he's finally being released to the community--a community he's ill-equipped to handle--or so it seems.

Despite his very colorful past, he manages to do okay for himself and builds a friendship with a troubled boy. The boy, unfortunately, lives in a very violent home where Mom's boyfriend (played by Dwight Yoakam) abuses the boy and his mother. Although Billy Bob is "slow", he manages to see the situation very clearly and ultimately handles this situation in a very unconventional way.

The film gets very, very high marks for acting, pacing and having the ability to engage the viewer. It really is an amazing and beautiful story.