"Stone" Movie Trailer Review

"Stone"

Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Anthony Crabtree

In the beginning of his career, Edward Norton was on the cutting edge of film, appearing in "American History X" and "Fight Club." However, the trailer for Norton’s latest film, “Stone,” seems to suggest that he has chosen to participate in safer, more banal films.

Despite the fact that he will not be returning as Bruce Banner in “The Avengers,” Norton is still an excellent actor who generally chooses challenging roles. Recently, some of those roles, such as a cop in “Pride and Glory,” have been met with apathy by audiences because they lack the edge factor he previously had. “Stone” feels like more of the same--there are elements of the prison/crime film, the ever familiar con artist plot, and the overall feeling like we have seen this before.

The story revolves around parole officer Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro), who is working on a parole case involving Gerald “Stone” Creeson (the obvious origin of the film title). Eventually, Creeson’s wife (Milla Jovovich) comes into the picture and the plot gets more complicated as Creeson’s wife seems to have an affair with Mabry. Although there is likely more going on than meets the eye, the trailer makes the film feel stale.

“Stone” reunites actors Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton, who worked together on 2001’s “The Score,” and also re-teams Norton with director John Curran, both collaborators on “The Painted Veil.” Both of these team-ups succeeded at becoming moderate critical and box-office successes, but neither has had the lasting power of earlier films starring Edward Norton. People still remember “American History X” and “Rounders” and still admire his performances in both, but “The Score” and “The Painted Veil” are often forgotten. The addition of Milla Jovovich, who typically seen in action films, seems like a questionable choice to play Stone’s wife.

The trailer may seem standard, but this preview could end up being misleading. I never count out a film starring Edward Norton as he is a fantastic actor, and this film could surprise critics and audiences alike by bringing back the Edward Norton we used to know.

The trailer for "Stone" is below. What are your thoughts?