Robert Redford has been slowly making a comeback to acting and in his latest and most strong attempt proves one thing: the man was never really gone.

As Einar Gilkyson, a miserable former drunkard who has been harboring a grudge against the widow of his deceased son, Jean (Jennifer Lopez finally showing her chops in quite some time too), has been living for many years in utter grief on his spacious ranch in Wyoming with only his confidante and ranch hand Mitch Bradley (Morgan Freeman providing his trademark gravitas) to bounce off of he'd be another dissolute cowboy searching for some form of redemption.

When Jean shows up on his property he is furious and also oblivious that she has brought along her 12 year old daughter Griff (bright newcomer Becca Gardner) in flight from her abusive boyfriend Gary Watson (Damian Lewis, proving to be downright hissable and showing how a bully really is a coward) with nowhere else to go. Einar acknowledges to his surprise he has a granddaughter (named after her late dad, Griffin) and reluctantly allows them to stay, while Jean gets a job at the local diner.

Griff is an atypical tweener her doesn't fit in and finds herself rubbing Einar the wrong way at first while she comes out of her shell with Mitch, who is laid up in the small cottage across the way from a nasty encounter with a grizzly bear which mauled him badly a year previous.  The bear has also come back and been captured by the town zoo where Mitch asks Einar to check in on it daily.  There> '> s some unspoken bond between the injured man and the carnivore that plays metaphorically as well to the unspoken angst between Einar and Jean, which eventually comes to a head when Gary makes an unannounced visit to stir things up.

Redford gives a remarkable performance in his go-against-the-grain casting as the angry Einar (Redford does anger very well) who gradually feels his heart melt with the new relationship forged with Griff (as well as Jean who also must deal with her own 'bear', Gary). The cast in whole, including Lucas as the town sheriff and old friend of the family and Manheim does a nice low-key turn as the owner of the diner who has a fine monologue adding dimension to her role.

Based on the best seller by Mark Spragg (who adapted the screenplay with his wife Virginia Korus) the film plays out in gradual rhythm mixing drama with a nice dose of gentle humor (the byplay between Redford and Freeman suggests an old married couple that Gardner calls on them with a ready laugh) while director Lasse Halstrom's designs of injured characters - physical and metaphysical combined - allows his signature for character to blend perfectly with the storytelling that echoes the golden age of Hollywood in the 'they-don't-make-them-like-they-used-to' genre that is all but welcome back here.

Film Rating: êêê1/2   (out of 4)