The direction by Clint Eastwood is top notch, as usual. He's at the top of his game these last few years, directing pieces of film that he feels mean something to him and should mean something to the world. He has a direct sense of the drama and the way that things should be filmed, when it needs to be tense, you can feel it coming off the screen. It doesn't come off as a police procedural like it could have, nor does it come off as a Lifetime-style movie, which it also definitely could have.

The music is pretty tremendous. Most of it was done by Eastwood himself (with the help of a few others), and it fits the time for the movie perfectly. Set in the late 1920s, the blues/jazz feel comes off quite strong with the moody music that Eastwood has decided to create for this film. Having been a part of the Jazz documentary, having directed a movie about Charlie Bird Parker, you have to know in advance that he loves this style of music and it was pretty ingenious to use his talents and his love to put that music very much in the public eye with this much publicized film.

Some of the acting is pretty top notch. John Malkovich is pretty outstanding as the Reverend who assists Collins' in her struggle against the police force. With two very solid acting performances in two movies month after month, Malkovich has earned the rating of one of the best actors going. And being that one movie was a farce and the other played completely for drama, his range is shown pretty extensively here. Geoff Pierson as the lawyer who helps her win the case against the LAPD does a great job. His deep booming voice works well and he commands respect on the screen. Jolie probably has one of her best film performances, when she's pulling it in and acting like a concerned mother. She feels very real.

The child acting in the film is also pretty remarkable. And there are a lot of quick casted actors where you've seen them before (Michael Kelly is the good cop in this movie and the jerk character from Dawn of the Dead, the jerk security guard, Amy Ryan plays a woman in a mental institution, etc).

When you name a movie Changeling, and you have it written by J. Michael Straczynski, of Babylon 5, Amazing Spider-Man, and Crusades fame, most comic fans and sci-fi fans alike think that Clint Eastwood is going to be directing a science fiction film and we get a little excited. Okay, so we got a lot excited. And then we read synopses, and then see movie trailers, and the letdown begins. It was like finding out Gran Torino isn't the return of Harry Callahan.

So expecting that, the letdown had begun. But I still went into the movie fresh. I didn't come out fresh. Some of the acting was very over-the-top and almost hammy.

Continuing on the ham-fisted acting, Jeffrey Donovan did not do well as Capt. J.J. Jones. I love Burn Notice, but in this film, he had a very heavy-handed accent, some kind of Irish/English/ something accent, that only appeared from time to time. It was strange. It was off-putting. When he was on screen, if he was talking, I couldn't help but laugh. And yeah, he's a handsome chap, but I couldn't help wondering what Guy Pearce was doing at that exact moment as he played a similar character in LA Confidential and his real-life accent was hidden from sight in that film. It was nice to see Donovan on the big-screen, but I just wanted him to go back to being burnt the whole time he was on screen.

Back to John Malkovich, I couldn't help but wonder if his character was meant to have an accent as well, being that his name was Rev. Gustav Briegleb, but being that it was John Malkovich, at least he didn't try and fail miserably with an accent he couldn't do.

Now, I mentioned the feeling of the Lifetime movie. When Jolie's character was in the psychopathic ward, everything seemed to quickly revert to a sense of male-bashing and heavy-handedness that derailed the film. The only thing that would have made it worse is if every single character had a quick newsreel- type voice like Jennifer Jason Leigh in Hudsucker Proxy. Would have made the movie more fun, but it would have made it even dumber.

If you're a fan of drama, pet projects, or Angelina Jolie movies, you'll probably like this movie. My wife loves Jolie so she loved this film. I can either take her or leave her. But for the life of me, I got a sense of The Perfect Storm or Poseidon the whole time I was watching this movie. Throw a bunch of name character actors together in one room, have them ham it up, and see if the Academy takes notice. See if we can win any awards. This film is bound and determined to be nominated for something, and I'm certain it will, but stop and think about something: does repeating the same line over and over and over and over and over again give it more strength or take away it's power? That's the message I was left pondering when this movie was done playing.