It was a solid anti slavery action thriller. I liked the concept which appeared to be a more serious concept version of Django Unchained and a mix between the Tarantino classic and 12 Years a Slave.
Antoine Fuqua presented his own film and thats what I liked about it, he did not try to copy the famous two classics but made something on his very own. In recent Academy Award winner Will Smith he found a fantstic actor (who ironically was a front runner for the Django Unchained lead ) who gives a strong, brave and powerful performance . The type of performance itself is compareable to Lenoardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant". Its an extremly phyiscal role and while DiCaprio famously fought a bear, we see Will Smith fighting an alligator. But Smith does great from the beginning to the end and once again delivers one of his finest performances. The other cast member worth to mention is Ben Foster who gave a silent and very menacing performance that goes right under your skin. He has a fantastic monologue in the middle of the film. One of the best supporting performances I have seen this year so far.
While I loved those two performances I was a bit let down by the film in general. It has fantastic action and battlefield scenes, but becomes quickly very monotone which causes certain lenghts, especially in the mid section of the film. I think they could have worked a bit longer in the editing room to speed up the pacing. Also while there are some great shots by cinematographer Robert Richardson, I found the film too dark and grey for its own sake.
Still worth to see, not the classic I was anticipating.
Antoine Fuqua presented his own film and thats what I liked about it, he did not try to copy the famous two classics but made something on his very own. In recent Academy Award winner Will Smith he found a fantstic actor (who ironically was a front runner for the Django Unchained lead ) who gives a strong, brave and powerful performance . The type of performance itself is compareable to Lenoardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant". Its an extremly phyiscal role and while DiCaprio famously fought a bear, we see Will Smith fighting an alligator. But Smith does great from the beginning to the end and once again delivers one of his finest performances. The other cast member worth to mention is Ben Foster who gave a silent and very menacing performance that goes right under your skin. He has a fantastic monologue in the middle of the film. One of the best supporting performances I have seen this year so far.
While I loved those two performances I was a bit let down by the film in general. It has fantastic action and battlefield scenes, but becomes quickly very monotone which causes certain lenghts, especially in the mid section of the film. I think they could have worked a bit longer in the editing room to speed up the pacing. Also while there are some great shots by cinematographer Robert Richardson, I found the film too dark and grey for its own sake.
Still worth to see, not the classic I was anticipating.