Twenty-five years ago, Karl (Billy Bob Thornton) brutally offed his mother and her lover with a sling blade ("Most folks call it a sling blade, I call it a kaiser blade, uh-huh.") Now, having been released from the asylum, he returns to the town of his youth, where his gentle manner leads him to an unlikely friendship with a young boy (Lucas Black) and his widowed mother (Natalie Canerday). All would be peachy if it weren't for the presence of the mother's scumbag boyfriend (country singer Dwight Yoakam) who forces Karl into a situation that will bring major consequences for all.
Slow does not always mean boring. Karl is slow - he's verrry slow - and he's also one of the most fascinating characters you could hope to witness, thanks to layers of work by Thornton. Think you've seen everything the cinematic retard has to offer? Think again.
'Sling Blade' is also slow, beautifully slow, in fact. The film's lingering pace mirrors that of both Karl and the film's Hicksville setting. Yoakam does a great job of depicting the worst that such a place has to offer, but the town does offer its share of sympathy - Canerday and Black play the most understanding people one could hope to meet (the latter is the boy Karl could so easily have been), while the late John Ritter is a real bonus as the gay shop owner, a man who feels as alienated as Karl. Then there's Robert Duvall as Karl's fanatically religious father, and the late J.T. Walsh as an inmate who can't stop talking about the details of a murder he committed.
A skillful, character driven, Oscar-winning script by Thornton (who also wrote 'One False Move', one of my absolute faves!), superlative direction by Thornton (he mutes the colours, plays with shadows, and he's got himself a haunting soundtrack), and a knockout central performance (he did the whole film with glass in his shoes, apparently!!) Forget the one-liners and major explosions for a while and just soak up these characters.