Rating: 
Summary: WHAT !
Review: LIMBO is so bad it made me angry. An absurd ambiguou ending, made due to the director's desire to make the film seem "different". Horrible pot, horrible acting. Skip it away!
Rating:
Summary: HORRIBLE, » A BAD JOKE !!!
Review: The arroganc of this idea: turn a low budget film into a "materpiece", with deep thoughts, great characters and an "enigmatic" ending... Horrible movie, directed with lack of real will to make a good movie, a bad cast, a history that doesn't touch you the least ( at the middle of the film you don't even care the least for the child, Mastrontanio and the guy). THe ending was apparently made to insult and offend the viewer who paid to watch this garbage, or for the sake of the director saying to himself; "oh, look at what a great film maker I am, what an original ending, what a "different plot" "". Blergh !! Keep away from this!!
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful movie
Review: Here's the argument I have with someone. She says that the ending was idiotic, and I say that the ending didn't matter because where these characters go to get to the ending is what is realized in the movie. That moment is perfect and what comes next is academic. The problem is is that now that they've come to this point in their lives you WANT to know what happens next. To a lesser extent Lone Star had the same problem, but so much has happened up until that point that you expect life is going to go on in some form. With Limbo there are only three characters that you are focusing on and there is one particular question that really needs answering.Most John Sayles movies have a large cast of interconnected characters all fully realized and interesting. This one has that but then loses most of them halfway through the movie to focus on the trio. She's a lounge singer, he's a failed basketball star and the daughter is depressed. We see them in society in one of the more realistic portrayals of dating and love (he shows up to one of her shows and she's happy to see him. It could mean nothing. It could mean everything. She describes the perfect lover as "someone who sees through your bull---- but is still crazy about you", they don't know how this is going to change them but they are willing to jump in) and then moves to the survival storyline where emotional limbo turns into actual limbo. At the end they grow out of the Limbo of relationships. For that moment at least their questions are answered and they know what they want and who they are, no longer failures. If we don't know their fate, they know their fate - at least for the next few minutes. I'm still trying to decide whether or not the ending is perfect for the movie or a great John Sayles copout, but I'm still intrigued by it.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts promising but makes a bad turn
Review: John Sayles' "Limbo" is not as good as it could have been. It starts very well. The first hour tries to capture the mood of the people living in the lonelyness of Alaska, and it succeeds. Additionally, a romance developes between the two key characters. Unfortunately, Sayles' film makes a very bad step at the beginning of the second half. He wants his three main characters to be lost on an island so that they can have all sorts of crises. The plot construction to get them there is contrived beyond believe and the film never recovers from then on. The picture has a very surprising and inconclusive ending. This can be called brave, but I had the uncanny feeling, that Sayles just didn't know how to write himself out of this mess and the ending is a sign of his desperation. Of course I can be wrong. I think "Limbo" should have stayed on the track it followed in the first half. Maybe it would have been a great movie then. John Sayles has sometimes the habit to make his films too "rich" for their own good. The result is that the movies are sometimes a bit unfocused. "Lone Star" is also a film that has perhaps one or two subplots too many. Maybe he should try to film a screenplay written by someone else.
Rating:
Summary: Limbo is an unexpected delight!
Review: "Limbo" is an excellent film. I have only seen one other film by Sayles, "Lone Star." I liked "Lone Star", but the ending of that film creeped me out. Otherwise I felt it was a good movie. So it was with some fear that I decided to see "Limbo." I'm not sure what viewers who loved "Lone Star" would say about "Limbo." I really enjoyed "Limbo." The actors portrayed the characters well. David Strathairn plays the role of Joe Gastineau well. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is fantastic in the role of Donna De Angelo. The young woman who plays Noelle De Angelo, Vanessa Martinez, is incredible. The movie is character-driven as opposed to plot/action-driven. Expect the style of filmmaking to be more Northern Exposure than ER. We really get to know the characters in this film either by default or through direct contact. The way in which the stories of the characters are woven together is intricate-evidenced by a scene in which several conversations at a bar are occurring at the same time. The end of the movie, which I will not reveal, is somewhat unexpected and may make some viewers upset. Viewers should keep the title of the movie in mind while watching the film and the end will seem perfect. One of my pet peeves in movie watching is seeing a film that has a terrible ending. Limbo has a perfect one. The last 30 or so minutes of the movie are the best in the film and need to be seen again. I give this movie two thumbs up and recommend it to those who enjoy seeing excellent acting!
Rating: 
Summary: MOST EXCELLENT FILM
Review: This movie touched my heart as few others have. The choice of cast, in my opinion, was excellant. If it doesn't move you, i feel sorry for you.
Rating:
Summary: HÁ, HÁ, HÁ!
Review: Elizabeth Mastrantonio, the star of the good "COLOUR OF MONEY", accepted to play the role of a aging singer who sings only in night clubs and pubs. Since the start, we can see the script is a total mess. The songs she sings are plain horrible, but this is only a detail in a completely ridiculous production, that has inocuous characters, bad acting, bad direction, bad screenplay and a disgusting ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Unrealized potential
Review: Limbo is a film that almost was. John Sayles (writer/director) inadvertently creates a film that mimics its characters in its unrealized potential. This is an exquisitely crafted character study of three people, each with a gift that was never fully realized due to intervening circumstances. Joe (David Straithairn) was an all state basketball player who blew out his knee and never got a chance to play professionally. Donna (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) is a talented singer relegated to lounge acts because of her choice in men. Noelle, Donna's daughter (Vanessa Martinez) is a gifted writer and storyteller, who immerses herself in self abuse, self loathing and self pity. Sayles develops each character with great care and we are drawn into their less than perfect lives with a feeling of affection and sympathy. It is easy for the viewer to find himself pulling hard for these characters. As the story unfolds, as is almost their fate, they are thrown into another crisis by Joe's screw-up brother. The characters are tested and show their tenacity to survive yet another of fate's blows. Sayles draws us in, whets our appetite and then leaves us totally unsatisfied in the ending. The actors played their roles splendidly. Both greatly underrated, Mastantonio and Straithairn had great screen chemistry. Mastrantonio played the self deluding, self doubting woman who's life revolves around finding a man and played it to perfection. She also did all her own vocals and has such a beautiful singing voice that one is left wondering why she didn't pursue a second career as a recording artist. Straithairn reminds me a little of Gary Cooper with his "strong quiet type" portrayals, except Cooper was always enigmatic and Straithairn plays his characters with more human vulnerability and approachability. His portrayal of Joe's life of disappointment was exceptional. Vanessa Martinez shines as the pouty, self hating Noelle. Even Casey Siemaszko played his part well as Joe's self inflated loser of a brother. I was prepared to give this film a 9 or 10 rating until the ending. I have seen thousands of films and the ending of this film is undoubtedly the worst I've ever seen. If I were to tell you the ending, it wouldn't ruin it, that's how bad it was. Sayles took so much pain to make us love these characters and want them to overcome this crisis and then gives us an ending with no closure. It was cruel, disappointing and infuriating to the viewers who invested so much emotion in these characters to draw us in and leave us in the state we find ourselves in the final scene. I was so aggravated by the ending that I reduced my rating of this film to a 5/10. Like Schubert's unfinished symphony, I'm left wondering why Sayles abandoned such a beautiful project.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and mature
Review: There is a sense of rage permeating some of the other reviews here. I think people are furious about the ending of this movie. That's a shame, because for the two hours preceding the ending, viewers get a feast of phenomenal scenery and extremely well-drawn characters. The relationship between the mother and daughter is so painfully real, it hurts. In the most unpredicted turn of events, a kind of healing takes place in their very difficult and complex relationship. The actresses are superb, and I am no fan of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Surprise: she can sing really well! David Straithairn is no slouch either, this guy is so good in every movie he's in, but he's not obvious and can be overlooked.
Rating:
Summary: Unconventional = Good!
Review: I watched this movie on DVD earlier today, and I have five words of caution to anyone who found themselves as drawn to this film as I was: "view at your own risk." Obviously by my five-star rating I found this to be an excellent film. But if you think that this is a standard thriller with standard characters, dialogue, and *ENDING* (I cannot emphasize enough how unexpected and downright daring the ending to this movie is), then you may want to shy away from "Limbo." The characters in this movie are richly and realistically developed, and the focus is on them rather than on the plot twists and jump scenes that this film could have easily employed. Of course, doing that would have reduced this to being an average suspense film, and I really would not even use those words to describe this picture. I have read reviews posted by earlier viewers that have lamented over the film's massively unexpected and slightly annoying finale. After listening to Sayles' commentary track, the ending makes more sense than either of the other, more predictable options. It's an ending that is completely consistent with the theme, tone, and focus of the film, and to have closed "Limbo" with anything else would take away from that. It's the way the movie should end. It's not what you expect, but isn't it time that Hollywood stop giving us the endings that we expect to happen and instead give us some real stories?
| 
