Having (rapidly) read the novella some time ago, and knowing that the ending in the film had ben significantly changed, I was pleased to have the chance to see this film now it has appeared on Netflix. I found the ending change convincing - not necessarily better, just different, and the sort of person that the young protagonist had become was particularly powerfully conveyed, even though the previous length of time and the number of violent acts that he had done was very drastically reduced. To one in fact, but that was dramatically effective as he had taken the one fateful step of actually killing someone and so had crossed that line.
The troubled Brad Renfro was gripping as was McKellen. To be honest the biggest ‘weakness’ of the film was seeing the director’s name at the end, the infamous Bryan Singer…an earlier Woody Allen.