Hardly anyone portrays evil the way Edward Norton can, and he's at the top of his game in "Stone," which opens today. Paired with Robert De Niro, playing off-type, Norton brings a lot to the title role in a movie that makes us think of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Dashiell Hanmett, those masters of crime novels and sources for great movies a couple of generations back.
Stone is doing time for an arson-murder, and he's eligible for parole. De Niro, as Jack Mabry, is an about-to-retire prison administrator, and Stone is his last case. Stone has problems with his hair-trigger temper, which has been an obstacle in the past, but he seems to have his act together now, and the road looks smooth.
Mabry is the puzzle. He and his wife (the excellent Frances Conroy) live very quietly in a frame house, eating and chatting like any middle-aged couple. An off-note, however, is the constant voice of Christian radio, softly, but always there. Same sound in his car while he drives to and from the prison. He seems always calm, not necessarily placid but calm. Either there is nothing inside or a great deal, spinning so rapidly it is soundless.
Stone is prison-smart. And he has a wife, Lucetta (the gorgeous Milla Jovovich), who is desperately in love with this corn-rowed, tattooed tough guy. She knows her man is close to parole, and she decides that making a pitch to the parole administrator might help. Jovovich is wonderful, in the style of the slightly wanton actresses from a couple of generations back, women like Loretta Young, Gloria Grahame and Barbara Stanwyck, to name a few.
Angus MacLachlan's screenplay is trim and on the mark, with no wasted time or words; John Curran brings the same sensibility and economy to his direction. A little predictable here and there, but a fine, taut drama.
Stone opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
—Joe