I have read a lot of reviews and acclaim for this film and when I finally got around to watching it.....it was very underwhelmed. There is so much praise for Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer. These two actors do a great job. I do not think either of them are Oscar-winning, but perhaps Oscar-nominating. Michael B. Jordan's performance is great, but that alone is no reason to see this movie, instead, just watch Chronicle where he is still great (although, compared to Dane DeHann in Chronicle nobody in that movie is a great actor). There is no doubt that this story is tragic. A loss of life is still a loss of life, especially when the incident is an accident, it's just not a very good film.
This film is very confidently made and it shows. The direction and acting is certainly there, there are just two main issues that I cannot stand. First of all, the film has no story. This is based on a quick incident that was caught on some cell phone footage, nothing to make a full length feature film out of, a one hour documentary would have been fine. They spend a little over the first two thirds of this film leading up to the events, all of which really don't matter. The only reason for this is to get a sense of the character, but that doesn't work because of my second reason. This film is completely, 100%, biased. This story makes Oscar out to be a saint Now, I knew nothing about anything relating to this film before seeing it. They spend so much time trying to force his likableness down our throats and it just seems too pushy.
I have no problem when a film is biased on one side, it is just when it is based on real events that I really cannot stand this. This is not like Batman where we are supposed to be biased to one side. This is a story that rather than exploring options, takes every single route to Oscar and injustice. This is not one of those films where there is an antagonist who is the film's protagonist, like Law Abiding Citizen, and taking the biased route only causes more problems than it solves.
Upon exploring more into this, I have come to the conclusion that this whole incident is just a series of mistakes taken on both sides. The cops were too aggressive, but so was Oscar. The cop then responded as he should and taze him in order to relax him, but upon a mistake, grabbed his weapon and wound up killing him. This film makes it out so that every step was wrongfully taken by the cops and there was no justice. If you ask me, I'd say justice was served. The cop who fired the shot was sentenced for two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and wound up getting out in 11 months. This seems a bit too short for what happened, but I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason made by the people who study law rather than the person sitting on his computer.
Ultimately, a well made movie does not make it a great movie. I had the same problem with The Conjuring, a very well made movie, but lacking in so many other aspects that I could not stand it.
This is a great story that would be a very interesting documentary, but I would only recommend this film strictly for its confident approach in filmmaking.
This film is very confidently made and it shows. The direction and acting is certainly there, there are just two main issues that I cannot stand. First of all, the film has no story. This is based on a quick incident that was caught on some cell phone footage, nothing to make a full length feature film out of, a one hour documentary would have been fine. They spend a little over the first two thirds of this film leading up to the events, all of which really don't matter. The only reason for this is to get a sense of the character, but that doesn't work because of my second reason. This film is completely, 100%, biased. This story makes Oscar out to be a saint Now, I knew nothing about anything relating to this film before seeing it. They spend so much time trying to force his likableness down our throats and it just seems too pushy.
I have no problem when a film is biased on one side, it is just when it is based on real events that I really cannot stand this. This is not like Batman where we are supposed to be biased to one side. This is a story that rather than exploring options, takes every single route to Oscar and injustice. This is not one of those films where there is an antagonist who is the film's protagonist, like Law Abiding Citizen, and taking the biased route only causes more problems than it solves.
Upon exploring more into this, I have come to the conclusion that this whole incident is just a series of mistakes taken on both sides. The cops were too aggressive, but so was Oscar. The cop then responded as he should and taze him in order to relax him, but upon a mistake, grabbed his weapon and wound up killing him. This film makes it out so that every step was wrongfully taken by the cops and there was no justice. If you ask me, I'd say justice was served. The cop who fired the shot was sentenced for two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and wound up getting out in 11 months. This seems a bit too short for what happened, but I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason made by the people who study law rather than the person sitting on his computer.
Ultimately, a well made movie does not make it a great movie. I had the same problem with The Conjuring, a very well made movie, but lacking in so many other aspects that I could not stand it.
This is a great story that would be a very interesting documentary, but I would only recommend this film strictly for its confident approach in filmmaking.