Review

De Niro is in top form as NYPD officer Vince LaMarca, a man whose family is marked by violence. His father was executed for kidnapping and killing a small child when Vince was only a kid, and it seems his estranged, junkie son (Franco) has murdered someone himself, in Vince's old precinct in the run-down shore town, Long Beach, no less. Caton-Jones (who directed De Niro in This Boy's Life) handles the father-son scenes rather well, and makes excellent use of the terrific and haunting Long Beach locations. Structurally, however, City is uneven; the early junkie scenes are (despite the convincing locale) dramatically awkward (Forsythe's borderline laughable motorcycle tough doesn't help), and exposition is nearly always spoken rather than shown. The film is also a hair overlong, and can't really mesh its dramatic and thriller story threads satisfactorily. Nevertheless, De Niro, McDormand and Franco all give quietly powerful performances, making City by the Sea more moving and possibly more satisfying than what it really is.

 -- Dean C. Galanis