Wow! Such a good movie.

The first must-see film of the year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is easily the sickest, most disgusting piece of excrement that I have ever seen in my 65 years. I am not squeamish, but this film shamelessly exploited gratuitous violence and sleaziness and truly had no "redeeming social value". All of the director, producer and actors should be ashamed of having participated in this flaming abortion waste of time. This film showcased the worst in human nature and had no lessons for anyone except the hopelessly depraved. I need at least three showers to wash this filth off of me.

I haven't found many movies that show a mentor that isn't a true Law enforcer, but has some courage, but this one was. I wish there were more "Joe's" in the real World and on a daily basis without the mouthy "activists" and this has nothing to do with color. Joe has his own problems and worked through them, until this young man comes along and needs just the right touch of Human interaction, the right kind. Too many people have an agenda today to actually DO something positive, this movie proves there are no needs for color, religion or monetary statute to stand up and do the right thing...loved it, loved the story line and found it believable and heartbreaking, all at once. I stopped watching N Cage for a while and now I'm playing "catch up" and glad I am. Give this movie a chance, it's well worth it.

I so appreciate it when a film comes out that is a good one for guys - good old Baby Boomer guys and not some politically correct metro-sexual crap. That is why I generally like Matt McConaghey films as well.This film is a superb character story, plain and simple. All of the roles are played to perfection. The pathos of those characters is so real it is gut-wrenching too. The abused wife syndrome; the boy who, despite a troll of a father, still loves him and holds out hope for his family. Of particular note too, which no other reviewer seems to mention are the guys who work on Cage's tree killing crew. Great. All of them. And I will not, like so many reviewers have, attempt to show my superior intelligence by pointing out that the guy who played the dad is dead and was homeless. I did not know that and do not really care. He played a good part though.I did not, however, really get into the silly feud with Joe and the guy who shot him at the beginning. Why didn't THAT guy go to jail if Joe is so friendly with the police chief? And why did the guy have the guts to keep getting up in Joe's face since he apparently was not that hard to beat down - even by a kid?I was kind of rooting for Joe to be alive in the end but I guess that was too much to ask. Still, a top-notch flick and like I said, a great man's movie. I liked Mud too by the way and almost anything lately by McConaghey. The kid who plays in this is super too and I look forward to seeing more of him. He kind of reminds me of the fine work the late Brad Renfro used to do and it would have been nice to see how he would have matured as well.

I had no idea that Gary wasn't a professional actor until I watched the extras on the DVD. He is so good in the role. Yes-as some mention he knew the life so perhaps it was easy for him to portray that on screen- but not everybody can do that. A good example of that is the guy who plays himself in the film about the Clash- Rude Boy- even though he is playing himself he is woeful. Anyway its such a shame that Gary passed away after making this film- imagine if he had a small film career start up on the back of this film- just like Danny Trejo has after he had a part in the film Runaway Train. He would have been able to get a home somewhere and perhaps even give up drinking. But it was not to be. I recommend watching the interviews on the DVD- he was quite an eloquent and funny man.Is this a spoiler? some people might read this before they watch the film- not knowing that Gary has passed away.