From Metacritic:

Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's Bacon who overcomes all obstacles.

Time Richard Schickel
It is among the best and most delicately managed films of the year.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The film's core, anchored by a fine ensemble cast and a controlled, focused performance by Bacon, is completely solid.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Worth seeing for Bacon's lived-in minimalist purgatory, but the movie soft-pedals the nature of the desires he's at war with: the fact that they will never go away.

And lastly, Ebert's 3 1/2-star review here.

Eh, Metacritic...

I'll take the Tomatoes anyday over that.

To each their own...

83% fresh.

Looks good. There's even some Oscar buzz around Bacon, but we'll see about that.

Bacon is great, but the film isn't all there it seems. I mean, it felt alittle empty. I don't know. The Woodsman is good, but not great. 7.0/10 (* * * /5).

I finally saw this.

Kevin Bacon carried the movie. He was kinda creepy in it and you could feel the anguish that his character was going through.

Some things that just don't make sense:


Plus, you get to see a Kyra Sedgwick topless scene, which is always a plus. She's got a pretty nice rack.

I was surprised to see that Damon Dash was an executive producer but then you could see his influence over the cast: Eve, Mos Def, and David Alan Grier.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 4 stars due to Bacon's performance and Sedgwick's rack.

First Will Smith, then Bill Murray, then Johnny Depp, then Alec Baldwin...now (hopefully) Kevin Bacon to be an Oscar nominee.

I want to see this for Bacon's performace alone and it looks like I won't be dissapointed. Thanks for the review links.

I'm a big Kevin Bacon fan, although I've been not all into him since 1994's The River Wild.

I know he was in Apollo 13 in 1995, but that wasn't really an opportunity - anybody could have played Jack Swigert, as the only time the character got animated was when he got indignant when Bill Paxton was accusing him for their mishap.

Sleepers, from 1996, was so-so. I didn't care for the whole tone of the movie, and it didn't matter that Bacon was in it.

Everything else, up to 2003's Mystic River, was fluff to me. Hollow man? Stir of Echos? Blah! Weak stories, all.

Mystic River was a good comeback, even though the other actors got recognition and awards. So I'm looking forward to The Woodsman. It's a return to form, as Bacon is a very subtle but very charsmatic actor.

His best work was in 1992's A Few Good Men.

I agree, he has had a lot of bad roles for a while but I actually really liked him in Hollowman, I think he had a lot of fun with the role.


I definitely want to see the Woodsman, plus, & I know it's a very serious film but I'll be that guy & say it, I think Sedgewick shows her boobies so that is added incentive to see it.

I thought it was good. I just wanted to see more screen-time for Mos Def.

I watched this last night and thought it was a pretty solid movie. While, I can't say there is anything outstanding about it, Bacon's performance is good and the character portrayal is very engrossing.

SPOILERS

Just saw this movie but was also surfing the net at the same time so maybe I missed a few things. Had a few questions:

1. What was the fairy tale about the woodsman? Obviously that's where the title came from, but I missed what the fairy tale was about.

2. With the 11-year old girl, Robin, on the bench at the end. She had been abused by somebody in her family, right? And Bacon's character (Norman) saw the pain this caused her which is why he turned down her offer to sit on his lap? Or did he turn her down because she was "used property" at that point? I'd like to think that he matured and realized the pain he had caused the girls in the past and wanted to not do it again.

3. The molester who was hanging out by the school (besides Norman), the one Norman beat up at the end. Did he really take the boy into the car presumably to be abused, or was that a dream?

4. So Norman slept with his sister when his sister was a young girl. Was this why he kept doing what he was doing, because he then had an attraction to girls who was the age of his sister when he was sleeping with her? Or did he have this desire for girls that age all along, thus he slept with his sister when she was that age because she "fit the profile"?

Thanks!

And for what it's worth, it is a well acted movie, definately worth a rental. I just can't recommend it as a purchase because it's not a movie I'd recommend watching more than once because of the subject.

(bump)

1. there was a story the Bacon character was relaying to Sedgewick, and the character in the story was known as the Woodsmen - but it didn't really devuldge into the story of it. It was just a mention.

2. Norman felt sympathy for the girl Robin, and that is why he didn't pursue the goal. Norman was "rehibilitating."

3. it was no dream. the boy was definitely taken and abused. Norman acted out because of it

4. Norman slept with his sister because that's what happened, and since it did happen, that's why Norman got "messed up" in his head. When things happen in your childhood, a lot of times that's the trigger for being hopelessly vile as an adult.

I liked it a lot. Bacon was excellent in what should have been an Oscar nominated performance. Mos Def was also excellent and should have had more recognition.

It was well done, but had a hard time watching it as a father. I had trouble feeling any sympahty or compassion for his character.