It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Overall this is a pretty good film. Sean Penn really nails the character and Robin Wright and Gary Oldman are exceptional as well. But the real reason this movie works and the acting meshes well is because of the exquisite music score by the great genius of Ennio Morricone (which I'm glad he finally got his much deserved oscar for The Hateful Eight). The score of this movie is so beautiful and interweaves masterfully with the film. State of Grace would not have been the film it was without Ennio Morricone's magnificent score and it's a score that you will want to listen to over and over after the film has ended. Worth the watch for the Score and Acting.

"State of Grace" is not one of those films that I would consider ageless or that seem to mellow with age, like "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo" or "2001: A Space Odyssey." It has an impressive roster of talented actors in early roles, but that may be a two-edged sword, as viewed for the first time in 2017, they serve as constant reminders of how old the film really is. By contemporary standards, the pace seems slow, with too much emotion and not enough action. It lacks the eye candy of contemporary films, such as elaborate fights, pyrotechnics, white-knuckle car chases, parkour acrobatics, etc. The gun battles seem of the caliber of episodic television series, at least until the final slow-mo scene. After cruising along in second gear for nearly two hours, the climax seems rushed, propelled by new information from who knows where. The fade-out as denouement leaves the audience uncertain, not only as to the fate of several principal characters, but also as to the meaning of it all. What lesson did the protagonist learn and what insight is the audience supposed to take away and apply to their own lives? While the film is definitely worth viewing, I also felt somehow disappointed. Yes, filmmakers needed to go there to get to where they are now, but it would have been so much better if they could have somehow jumped ahead a quarter of a century and adopted contemporary techniques.

Just after watching this movie, I thought "How could I never heard of this one before?".This movie is awesome! With a great plot, great performances and casting. We have here one of Gary Oldman's finest performances. We can just blame the time of its release, that came along with Goodfellas and The Godfather Part III. But I tell you, this movie is far better than many gangster movies I have seen that are very respect, I won't tell names, but it is.Don't believe this IMDb rating, this movie is easily one of the best of its genre ever made.

This movie somehow escaped me until 2012, but after seeing it now for the first time I am surprised it is not mentioned in the same breadth as so many of the other gangster/NYC classics. Hard hitting, jarring, raw and real...Gary Oldman delivers a performance with remarkable energy and emotion. The range from this performance to what he has recently done with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, has cemented in my mind that he is one of our generations best actors! Aside from Mr. Oldman the film contains many other fine performances from great actors such as Ed Harris, Sean Pean, Robin Wright, Burgess Meredith, John C. Riley, and was directed by Phil Jonou. Don't miss this movie!