Actors Edward Norton and Robert De Niro first worked with each other in '2001s "The Score," which also co-starred acting legend Marlon Brando. If you are expecting to see "The Score 2" when you go to see "Stone," which features the re-teaming of De Niro and Norton, then you will be disappointed. But you will be pleasantly surprised with the smart, touching and tragically moving film that is left instead. In addition, since Norton is so closely associated, still to this day, with his Oscar nominated performance in "American History X," if you are expecting him to play a similar character in this film, you would be mistaken. Yes, he is once again playing a prison inmate but Norton completely transforms himself into a character unlike anything we've seen him do before. In fact, Stone may work on some levels just because you are expecting it to be one thing and then it surprises you by being something else.

The film is deliberately slow in the beginning and starts off with a flashback scene that you won't fully understand until its conclusion. De Niro's character is cold and hard to like but of course the actor is able to make the audience sympathize with him by the end. But I do think that it is Norton's performance and that of Jovovich that really carry the weight of the film. Again, Norton gives an astonishing performance that will keep you completely riveted throughout. Jovovich is extremely surprising in a difficult role and her performance in not only sexy and seductive but quite sympathetic as well. It's definitely one of her best dramatic roles to date and she certainly holds her own opposite the two acclaimed leading actors. Many of the best scenes in the film take place in a tiny office between De Niro and Norton and the two accomplished actors are even capable of making acting behind a desk look interesting. One great thing that director John Curran ("The Painted Veil") does is move the camera a lot in those office scenes to keep it interesting and it works to great effect. As does his choice to shoot all the love scenes in the film with only close ups.

The film begins with a scene set some time in the past (the '60s maybe '70s) with a husband and a wife at home on a Sunday afternoon. The husband is detached; watching golf on TV while his wife tends to their infant and brings him a drink. When the wife finally tells her husband that she is going to leave him, in a fit of fury, he grabs their baby girl and threatens to throw her out the window if she leaves. Frightened of what he might do she agrees to stay. Fast-forward to present day where we presumably meet the husband, Jack (De Niro). He is a parole officer at the local state prison and is about to retire. His wife Madylyn (Frances Conroy), the emotionally battered woman we saw in the past, has gotten use to her place in the home over the decades and in doing so has turned to God for guidance. Jack's final case is a convict named Gerald Stone Creeson (Norton). While the two men bump heads at first, they begin to build an odd and important relationship.

Stone has served eight of his ten years for participating in the murder of his own grandparents and believes he is ready for release. He has a beautiful wife named Lucetta who he very badly wants to get back to. While Lucetta visits Stone constantly, unbeknownst to him she has other boyfriends on the side. When Stone starts to believe that Jack will not put him up for parole he asks Lucetta to speak to him on the outside. Although he refuses to meet her at first, her beauty and the prospect of escaping a boring life become to tempting for Jack and he agrees. Lucetta comes on fast and before long the two are sleeping together. For Lucetta, Jack eventually agrees to free Stone but at what cost? Stone has a "reawakening" before he is released and believes that he is now "God's tuning fork," dedicating himself to living a clean life. But Jack is not sure. Was he double-crossed? Does Stone know about Jack and Lucetta? Did he put her up to it? When bad things start happening at Jack's home, he begins to think Lucetta or Stone are responsible and Madylyn begins to realize what is going on. Now Jack must come to terms with what he has done and his faith in God if he is to save his marriage and find out the truth about Stone.

One thing that I really like about the movie is that I was expecting some cheesy Hollywood thriller, where the prisoner is a devilishly evil character that seems like he has changed but is secretly acting out his nefarious plan, and instead I got a dramatic character piece with some really great performances. I think this is the strength of the film. Maybe it's because of their work on "The Score" that you can so easily see this film go in another direction and you are delighted when you realize that the filmmakers chose the high rode. The film's only problem may be that it unfolds awful slowly at times. In fact, the most interesting moments in the movie revolve around Norton and Jovovich's roles, and when we are left with Jack and Madylyn at home alone the film begins to drag. But in the end, it is the transformation that both Norton and Jovovich go through to give their performances in this film that make it worth seeing. That, and of course, the chance to see to great heavyweight actors like De Niro and Norton go head to head.