Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Dear Sean Penn, this is your best film in the role of a writer-director. You got everything right. The film is stylish with some great use of slow motion. The action scene at the beginning of the film was tense and riveting. The film has a great soundtrack including songs by Janis Joplin. The cast which includes Charles Bronson (in a very melancholic role) and Dennis Hopper is stellar. Viggo Mortensen gives the best performance of his career as a violent misfit who cannot seem to get his act together. Patricia Arquette is winsome as his simpleton wife. Mortensen's dialogue about how there is always someone better than you setting new standards, thereby messing up your own attempts to improve resonated with me. David Morse and Valeria Golino are a perfect foil for Mortensen and Arquette's impulsive characters. I am not sure why it is called The Indian Runner. I think it might have something to do with living in an earth alienated culture. The exchange between Frank and Joe about owning farmland and living off it seems to foreground this theme. Joe says "I burned" (when he owned and lived off the land) indicating that he is not entirely happy with his job as a policeman. So that makes this film a prelude to Into The Wild. It was a great directorial debut, Sean. Great work. Best Regards, Pimpin. (10/10)

I knew nothing about this film when it appeared late night on ThisTV, Indianapolis, (channel 4.2). (Digression: think of all the brothers that get along and make movies, Waylan, Cohen, Wachowski, etc).The opening pre-title sequence was intriguing and about Indian hunters consuming the last breath of their prey. "Wow, I didn't know that", I thought.I missed the credit of Sean Pean, 'cause I went to get a coffee. But that would have been a great clue. Penn directing a movie in the 60's?Then the absorbing opening of the Sheriff chasing a fleeing suspect. "Hmmm", I thought. "This is a pretty well done for a 60's film". I was assuming it was made in the 60's. And, I mused "wow an early Viggo film".Then I saw an old nice Charlie Bronson...(Charlie, we miss you) I thought something was wrong with the timing, how could he make Mr. Majestic ten years later. w t f? So I knew something was off, but what? And the lighting and style was so 60's, as were the cars.But this was turning out to be a good movie. And I was puzzled It was on so late, I fell asleep, but thankfully it is repeated this Tuesday.How this fell through the cracks, I don't know. Was shocked to read about it on IMDb (yea!) being made in '91 by Penn. Buy this movie if you see it in the bargain bin at the big box stores or a video store. Am totally looking forward to the repeat.Hey, HBO, why don't you show some of these "glossed over" movies. Remember Shawshank Redemption. Initially ignored, went on to be People's Favorite movie, over Citizen Kane.This is not an actual review, but my initial impressions of catching his movie for the first time.....some may find it similar to their puzzlement too.

Perhaps it's no accident that Sean Penn would later go on to star in She's So Lovely, a film written by John Cassavetes and directed years after his death by his son, Nick. From just the looks of The Indian Runner (not least of which the dedication to John), Penn is a fan. It's not so much in the camera style, as he's rarely if ever taking a hand-held approach to things or letting his cinematographer be as deliberately all over the place as Cassavetes would allow. But emotionally, it's like a wound slowly opening to reveal itself after the initial shock of glancing at it. It's about two brothers with distinctly different paths in life, but who love each other (at least one clearly does) and can't stand to see how things have gotten so bad. And somehow that Indian Runner, a symbol of a weird kind of pure freedom, is always somewhere around.It's not about plot in any stretch but about characters, plain and simple. With great characters comes everything else that's needed, and here Penn scores as good as he ever has had in his short but rewarding career as director (this goes up there with the underrated The Pledge). We see this story unfold of Frankie and Joe, played by Viggo Mortensen and David Morse, one is a Vietnam vet with nothing to win or lose (until he meets a girlfriend, Patricia Arquette plays her), and the other is a cop happily married with a kid. When Frankie gets in trouble with the law repeatedly- and the two brothers' parents die over a period of time- they try and regroup together back in their hometown. Things have a funny way of not quite working out though for Frank, a loose cannon who ultimately blames the world for his problems. Of course, Vietnam could be enough, but it's never that simple to peg (one thinks looking at their brotherhood that Frank has been this way before, only now it's amplified), and it adds a level of psychotic complexity that, again, calls back to Cassavetes. What is it to be afraid of life, or ready to risk it all, are some questions Penn seriously poses (and leaves open for some answer)? And how does death haunt you if it's close and personal. The opening scene of Joe chasing after a guy and killing him after the other guy shot first, is a key one: he is justified in shooting him, but it's not an easy thing to live with killing another person. Joe knows it, and whether Frank did know it is open to interpretation. But one thing is for certain, which is that walking a fine line between peace and anger is a tough one for Frankie, and Joe has little to do but sit back and watch it unfold.Penn takes care writing all of these characters, not just the two principles but also supporting players like those played by Valeria Golino and, in his last serious part, Charles Bronson (sans beard) as the father, who is shook to the core after the death of his wife. Hell, even bit players get some quality screen time, as one scene with a woman sort of pestering Joe at his work about being available to listen if he needs it, or Dennis Hopper's two brief scenes as a bartender. All of the characters, and subsequently the actors, are given something to do, scene after scene, even if it's something we don't look forward to like Arquette's character screaming every other scene (she probably has the least depth of any character, but then not given much to do aside from being a stay-at-home to-be-mom watching her love go down the tubes mentally). Not every directorial choice made by Penn works, such as the cutaway to the actual 'birth' going on in the climax of the film, but enough are really strong to make it a must-see. It's really his gift in handling actors- even a lessor work like The Crossing Guard has its moments with its players- and here Mortensen is the one that gets to shine completely. Morse gives as good as he can, and it's a performance I won't forget, but Viggo is giving a De Niro Mean Streets kind of turn here, a completely honest and tortured performance of a man who doesn't quite know who he is, but he knows what he isn't which is at peace with himself. It's a sad, awesome portrayal that is as unforgettable as anything he's done in recent memory, Cronenberg films included.

Greatly enjoyed this film directed by Sean Penn with a great cast of veteran actors and a very interesting story which starred David Morse, (Joe Roberts) who plays the role as a small town chief of police. This film starts off with Charles Bronson, (Mr. Roberts) and Sandy Dennis, (Mrs. Roberts) who raised two boys Joe Roberts and Frank Roberts, (Viggo Mortensen). Frank went to the Viet Nam War and when he returned he met his brother Joe and told him he was not going to live with his father and mother and was going to leave and do just what he wants to do. Frank has some very serious mental problems and gets into all kinds of problems which cause great problems to his mother and father and it makes his brother Joe worry about him all the time. This film had great actors who gave great supporting roles, namely: Sandy Dennis and Charles Bronson. Sandy Dennis gave her last performance in this film and passed away at the early age of 54 years of age after winning an Oscar and appearing in many films and New York City Theater Stage Shows.