This time, it's Dead Woman Walking. "The Last Dance" was doomed from its release to be compared to that other death row movie -- "Dead Man Walking," in which the main actress garnered a Best Actress Academy Award. This comparison, however, is not fair to "The Last Dance."
"Dead Man Walking" is a powerful and gut-wrenching film, and there is no doubt it is one of the best films of the past year and one of the best death row movies ever made. That film, based on actual events, thoroughly examines all aspects of the complex capital punishment issue.
But while "The Last Dance" is decent film with solid performances, it simply pales in comparison when measured against "Dead Man Walking."
The film's biggest crime seems to be its lack of originality, save that the inmate is a woman and the film is a standard death row movie.
"The Last Dance" is the story of Cindy Liggett (Sharon Stone), a 19-year old woman. She and her boyfriend committed a number of burglaries while high on crack.
During one of these robberies, the house was not empty, and Cindy attacked and brutally murdered a young couple.
When the film opens, it is 12 years after Cindy's crimes. Her death warrant has just been handed down, and she is condemned to die within 30 days.
But then the law calls for the clemency board to review her case. The lawyer assigned to review Cindy's case is Rick Hayes (Rob Morrow) who has been on the job for only a few days.
This is Hayes' first real job, and one that he procured from his brother John (Peter Gallagher), who is the governor's chief of staff.
He is a spoiled rich boy who got into some trouble of his own when the family business went under. Yet he has spent the last two years drinking and being merry.
When Hayes meets Cindy, he finds a woman that has completely rehabilitated herself. As he examines her file, he finds information that could have spared her from the death penalty was withheld from her trial.
Naturally, Hayes believes that Cindy does not deserve to die, and he begins to fight to try to save her.
Liggett is unwilling to cooperate at first because she sees the futility in it all -- the case takes place in an unspecified Southern state in which the governor of 15 years has never granted clemency in a capital punishment case.
But as Hayes persists, Liggett eventually begins to cooperate, and a friendship forms.
Simply by changing the names of the characters, "The Last Dance" could be almost any death-row film. The inherent genericness of the story is what hurts the film the most.
The film drags on as the audience cannot get into a story which seems to have been done numerous times before.
The performances for the most part are solid. Stone does a good job as Liggett, and this role will help strengthen the notion of her as a serious actress.
Morrow's role as the rich-boy lawyer with something to prove and whose life is changed forever by this case is almost a cliche. He is unable to convey his struggle to help Liggett.
"The Last Dance" tries very hard to be a powerful, tug-on-the-heart-strings film, but its story is just too stale. The film has nothing new to offer to the issue of capital punishment.
