The Crossing Guard

Academy Award(R)-winner Jack Nicholson (1997 Best Actor, AS GOOD AS IT GETS) drives this suspenseful, critically acclaimed action thriller about one man's unquenchable thirst for revenge! For six agonizing years, Freddy Gale (Nicholson) has waited for John Booth (David Morse, THE NEGOTIATOR), the man jailed for a crime that destroyed Freddy's life. Now, Booth is out of prison and Freddy's giving him three days before he returns ... to even the score! Directed by Sean Penn and starring Academy Award(R)-winner Anjelica Huston (1985 Best Supporting Actress, PRIZZI'S HONOR) and sexy Robin Wright (MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE), THE CROSSING GUARD is an intense, emotionally charged thriller that delivers!

Sean Penn wrote and directed this character-driven drama about a divorced couple (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) whose relationship never recovered following the death of their daughter at the hands of a drunk driver (David Morse). When the latter's character, a deeply regretful and changed man, gets out of jail, Nicholson, as the vengeful dad, decides to go after him. As a director, Penn is not so good with fluid storytelling and camera clichés, but he is amazing as an actor's director. The onscreen reteaming of former real-life lovers Nicholson and Huston is more than just a voyeuristic exercise: Penn ingeniously uses the duo's palpable friction to bring an often horrifying reality to the pain of a dead relationship. --Tom Keogh