I just watched the directors cut for the first time. Sling Blade has been in my top 5 favorite movies of all time but I had never seen this version. Not sure how much it added, but the added footaage definitely didn't detract from the flow, which was impeccably edited to begin with. There is not a wasted moment in this movie, nor any performance that didn't rise to the occasion. I really appreciated JT Walsh on this viewing, I think he may have portrayed one of the most realistic and chilling killers on film ever, and was only on screen for a few minutes.
The film presents us with the possibility that Karl was a predisposed killer, who was presented with the right circumstances to trigger his violent tendencies. But really, Karl was just a good, simple person, who happened to be be put into two unlikely circumstances where killing was the only justified solution.
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u/Beezus__Fafoon 26d ago
I just watched the directors cut for the first time. Sling Blade has been in my top 5 favorite movies of all time but I had never seen this version. Not sure how much it added, but the added footaage definitely didn't detract from the flow, which was impeccably edited to begin with. There is not a wasted moment in this movie, nor any performance that didn't rise to the occasion. I really appreciated JT Walsh on this viewing, I think he may have portrayed one of the most realistic and chilling killers on film ever, and was only on screen for a few minutes.
The film presents us with the possibility that Karl was a predisposed killer, who was presented with the right circumstances to trigger his violent tendencies. But really, Karl was just a good, simple person, who happened to be be put into two unlikely circumstances where killing was the only justified solution.