The Clearing has been panned by some and praised by others. I stand somewhere in the middle. To be honest, in the first half hour or so, I was riveted and ready to proclaim it as one of the year's best. By the time the movie was over, I wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but it's still a very good film.

In The Clearing, Robert Redford is Wayne Hayes, a successful executive. He's happily married and has two grown children and it's safe to say that he's lead a pretty decent life. One morning while leaving for work, he is abducted by a seemingly normal man named Arnold Mack (a subtle Willem Dafoe).

Mack takes Hayes into the woods. Where he's leading him or exactly what his intentions might be we're not quite certain. The plot thickens, however, as along their journey the two have a psychological sparring match which reveals interesting tidbits regarding both men's pasts.

One thing here is certain - The Clearing is a tour de force of acting virtuosity. This is Robert Redford's best performance in years. His Hayes is a flawed, but good man - who's done things in his life that he isn't particularly proud of. Through it all, however, his love for his insecure wife Eileen (a spectacular Helen Mirren) remains true. Redford is incredibly brave here, and isn't afraid to allow the audience to see that yes, he has aged, and no, he doesn't look like the same rugged hunk that we remember from The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But he is the same actor, and his instincts as a performer are as sharp as ever. While strong, there is something equally vulnerable and Redford is able to convey deep emotion simply through a glance.

Willem Dafoe (who is quite often cast as the creepy bad guy) plays a different kind of villain here. While we're never told outright what his plans for Hayes might be, we get the distinct impression that we know what this guy is all about. But while we don't care much for what he's doing, there's something incredibly sympathetic about him. We really feel for this guy, and the way he plays his final moments in the picture, are quietly powerful.

As solid as Redford and Dafoe are, it is Mirren that anchors the movie as Eileen, Wayne's emotionally distraught wife. While seemingly strong-willed, this is a woman who is clearly capable of being hurt. Like Redford, much of her performance is internal. No doubt, her final moment in the picture will be dismissed by some as overly manipulative, but I thought it worked. I'm almost certain Mirren's name will be batted around come the heavy awards season.

There is much to admire in The Clearing. Director Pieter Jan Brugge and screenwriter Justin Haythe keep things extremely grounded. This isn't a movie about double-crosses and sly little twists. The Clearing has complexities but at it's heart, it's quiet and simplistic. The film makers take a straight forward approach to the material in terms of who these people are and what they're doing. The plot structure is interesting, as we jump around to various time frames, but it's never confusing or distracting.

Where the movie really fails for me is in the overall development. At a brisk ninety-one minutes, this is a movie you'll miss if you blink. As strong as Redford and Dafoe are in their scenes together, I didn't feel that we got to see enough of the psychological gamesmanship. In a time when films are accused of being far too long, this is a picture that would have benefited from an additional thirty minutes.

Still, The Clearing is a movie worth watching simply for the performances. Redford, Dafoe and Mirren are seasoned pros and just watching them do their thing is Clearly worth the price of admission.