The intensity of "White Mile" is somewhat surprising. Oh, I don't mean intensity in the way the DVD case will have you believe - all action and peril in the vein of "The Edge". In fact, the white water rafting is ultimately a very brief portion of the story. The stars of the film (Alan Alda and Peter Gallagher) offer up both very solid and very conflicted characters. At first, the depth is a unexpected thing. We aren't given basic sketches created simply to graft onto a script. Michael Butler has written this film as, essentially, a moral dilemma. In the end, it is so much devoted to this approach that we never quite get going in a fully emotional sense.
"White Mile" made me think. That's a good thing. It didn't particularly make me feel, but I'm okay with that. The acting was good, the direction adequate, and for something I went into without expectation, I can't say I'm disappointed. Good film.
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