“i have the power, motherfer.”*
imagine if there was a town in ohio that was the most outrageously racist town ever. then imagine a white supremacy gang that steals black people’s organs and sells them. then also imagine that these racist troglodytes only use baseball bats and are doing twirls with them every two seconds. that kind of summarizes the experience of watching this film. it isn’t groan-worthy bad but i feel like for a movie that tackles black exploitation, it could have been so much better.
shameik moore of spiderverse fame leads the cast as “unique” and upon his release from prison, he tries to start fresh in ohio. and as you’d expect, that fresh start is impossible in a town like this. there isn’t really a narrative beyond him fighting for his life. best way i can think of putting it is “all style, no substance.” rza does his best at trying to direct something interesting and visually appealing, but if i am completely honest, it comes across as amateurish and corny. fight choreography at points looks great, and at other times, you can visually see punches or kicks not connect. i think the biggest flaw here lies in the performances. everybody in the cast is so one note and it is frustrating to watch.
i think the message of fighting hate and bigotry head-on is great but you got to have an actual film to uplift that message into something of impact and meaning. one spoon of chocolate is unfortunately not good and hopefully rza bounce back from this dud. music here is fire though.
“i have the power, motherfer.”*
imagine if there was a town in ohio that was the most outrageously racist town ever. then imagine a white supremacy gang that steals black people’s organs and sells them. then also imagine that these racist troglodytes only use baseball bats and are doing twirls with them every two seconds. that kind of summarizes the experience of watching this film. it isn’t groan-worthy bad but i feel like for a movie that tackles black exploitation, it could have been so much better.
shameik moore of spiderverse fame leads the cast as “unique” and upon his release from prison, he tries to start fresh in ohio. and as you’d expect, that fresh start is impossible in a town like this. there isn’t really a narrative beyond him fighting for his life. best way i can think of putting it is “all style, no substance.” rza does his best at trying to direct something interesting and visually appealing, but if i am completely honest, it comes across as amateurish and corny. fight choreography at points looks great, and at other times, you can visually see punches or kicks not connect. i think the biggest flaw here lies in the performances. everybody in the cast is so one note and it is frustrating to watch.
i think the message of fighting hate and bigotry head-on is great but you got to have an actual film to uplift that message into something of impact and meaning. one spoon of chocolate is unfortunately not good and hopefully rza bounce back from this dud. music here is fire though.
