56. The Life of David Gale (2003) - Alan Parker

The Life of David Gale (2003) - Alan ParkerA man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row. I don't understand why this movie is so disliked by many of the critics I respect and by the general movie-going audience. For my money, The Life Of David Gale is a throughouly entertaining and superbly acted mystery thriller that keeps you guessing from start to finish, never taking you in a direction that the story doesn't warrant or giving youa bastardize conclusion that doesn't make sense. Kevin Spacey is David Gale, a philosophy professor who works for a political activest group dedicated to ending the death penalty law. Ironically, he himself is accused of murder and is sentenced to death although he claims to be an innocent man. What follows is a flurry of flashbacks of how Gale ended up in Jail as he tells reporter Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) how he was setup during 3 interview sessions leading up to his day of execution. Kevin Spacey shows why he is truly a living acting legend with yet another compelling performance of a guy suffering a breakdown after he commits some life mistakes and falls victim of bad luck. Laura Linney gives her best performance to date as Constance, a fellow lecturer and confident of Gale. Many people have criticsed the thriller aspect of the movie invovling Kate Winslet and her sidekick reporter but I like these moments in the film. They act as a nice breather for the heavy and deep subject matter that take up much of the film. And in my eyes the ending makes sense. I'm not going to spoil it here but the movie I saw (and have seen many times now) the ending was great and totally logical.