To summarise this film I would say that it builds slowly and leads into nothing much. There are some powerful scenes in this film where I felt genuinely moved and concerned for the characters in the film but as a whole I found this film to be very stereotypical and misleading.
Firstly, the way that the police are portrayed in this film suggest that every police officer is a Brutal racist with 0 empathy or compassion. I found it very distasteful on how it never showed the otherside of how these situations affect the police officer that is involved in a case like this. When this is brought up by a young white girl, she is seen to be the bad guy for suggesting that the cop and his family are also going through hell because of the shooting of the young black man.
Another negative was how the entire film was about how black people matter and there lives matter but never about equality. Slight spoiler here. There is a scene where the young black girl that is the main character brings her boyfriend back to meet her father. The father proceeds to be rude and disrespectful to the young white boy for no other reason than because of his race. If this isn't racism then I don't know what is. This completely tantes anything the father says because we know that a small part of his motivations includes him being racist towards white people. This theme of misrepresenting white people was common throughout the film and I rather felt like I was watching a black lives matter propaganda film. Some parts genuinely infuriated me.
Also a shorter negative here was how the film seemed to drag moments out that could be made much shorter and to the point which would have gave the film more pace and punch in delivering its message to the audience.
Although there were many negatives I couldn't help but to become involved in the film and the characters. There were scenes that were moving. One of the final scenes where there is a riot on the street and starr (the main character) jumps up on the van and finally realised the power she has and finds her voice was very moving and made the hairs on my neck stand up. There were moments like this scattered through the film which is why I have rated this a 5 and not a 4.
The film also delivered some occasional funny moments and one moment where the whole cinema erupted in laughter, although, some of the 'funny' parts were just so cringeworthy it hurt my skin.
All in all this was a film that I will not see again due to its mediocreness and it's infuriating stereotyping.
Firstly, the way that the police are portrayed in this film suggest that every police officer is a Brutal racist with 0 empathy or compassion. I found it very distasteful on how it never showed the otherside of how these situations affect the police officer that is involved in a case like this. When this is brought up by a young white girl, she is seen to be the bad guy for suggesting that the cop and his family are also going through hell because of the shooting of the young black man.
Another negative was how the entire film was about how black people matter and there lives matter but never about equality. Slight spoiler here. There is a scene where the young black girl that is the main character brings her boyfriend back to meet her father. The father proceeds to be rude and disrespectful to the young white boy for no other reason than because of his race. If this isn't racism then I don't know what is. This completely tantes anything the father says because we know that a small part of his motivations includes him being racist towards white people. This theme of misrepresenting white people was common throughout the film and I rather felt like I was watching a black lives matter propaganda film. Some parts genuinely infuriated me.
Also a shorter negative here was how the film seemed to drag moments out that could be made much shorter and to the point which would have gave the film more pace and punch in delivering its message to the audience.
Although there were many negatives I couldn't help but to become involved in the film and the characters. There were scenes that were moving. One of the final scenes where there is a riot on the street and starr (the main character) jumps up on the van and finally realised the power she has and finds her voice was very moving and made the hairs on my neck stand up. There were moments like this scattered through the film which is why I have rated this a 5 and not a 4.
The film also delivered some occasional funny moments and one moment where the whole cinema erupted in laughter, although, some of the 'funny' parts were just so cringeworthy it hurt my skin.
All in all this was a film that I will not see again due to its mediocreness and it's infuriating stereotyping.