FREEDOMLAND
Rated R
Violence and Language
1/2 of 4 Stars
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe
Directed by: Joe Roth
Produced by: Scott Aversano, Charles Newirth (II), Scott Rudin
Who would have thought that bringing together a stellar cast could go so terribly wrong.
Given the light of some pretty bad remakes and even worse original scripts, Freedomland
fits right in. However even though the story was bad and the directing was nothing less
than terrible, the worst part about this movie was the extreme over acting. In one of the first
scenes you see Samuel L Jackson interrogating Julianne Moore about her missing child.
Instead of her being the one freaking out that her son is missing, you find that Jackson
literally spazing out and acting like a crack addict. All of this for no apparent reason and
leading to nothing. This tends to be the standard flow of this completely and utterly lame
movie.
Freedomland is the simple story of a woman (Julianne Moore) whose son is kidnapped in an
apparent carjacking and a cop who is determined to find the child. Mixed with a disturbing
ending and pointless social subplots, the movie gets lost in its own thought process and
washed out in its lack of consistency and reality. Through the whole movie you are either
falling asleep or saying "give me a break, that would never happen". There are so many
characters whose story goes unfinished and circumstances that leave you hanging. This
confusing mess of a movie leads to an incredibly disturbing conclusion of which you have to
hear a would be sympothetic character describe how the boys ultimate circumstance
occurs. OK description is one thing but taking 20 minutes to tell a story just gets boring.
Joe Roth who is usually a producer felt that the point of this movie was so important that he
steps out of the producer chair and right up to the director plate, which was a disastrous
mistake. Joe tries to make this movie like a wantabe "Crash" in all of his racial implications,
however he misses the reality of inner city life. I grew up in Los Angeles and actually saw
the inner action between African American's and Caucasian on a daily basis. Yes as the
movie "Crash" so clearly points out, every race has biased and pre-conceived ideas about
one another, however all of which are deep rooted in circumstance. Freedomland is more
of an insult against both African American's and Caucasians, showing both sides to be
completely impatient and barbaric control freaks. Once the child ends up missing, the
police block off this complex called "Armstrong" which is primarily black. They do this in an
attempt to find the perpetrator and the boy. Their clues supposedly lead right to this spot.
Almost immediately the community starts to freak out and starts calling the police racist and
the police show absolutely no humanity at all. The insult is not showing the lack of humanity
necessarily, but the fact that the movie shows African American's as a bunch of impatient
freaks. I personally believe that given the circumstances, it would have taken a lot longer
than 10 minutes for the riot line to be packed and a heck of a lot longer for the tempers to
flare. By the end of the movie a huge riot takes place with a white cop to antagonizes a
black guy who is equally antagonizing. Again, leading to a very unrealistic climax.
This movie is choppy, boring, and just horribly acted and directed.
1/2 Stars of 4 Stars
Warning to Parents: Disturbing ending, Violence, and tons of Language. Often times I can
usually handle harsh language but when the characters deliver their dialogue, they actually
toss in F words just for the heck of it. They seem pointless and are more overkill than
leading to purpose.
Rated R
Violence and Language
1/2 of 4 Stars
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe
Directed by: Joe Roth
Produced by: Scott Aversano, Charles Newirth (II), Scott Rudin
Who would have thought that bringing together a stellar cast could go so terribly wrong.
Given the light of some pretty bad remakes and even worse original scripts, Freedomland
fits right in. However even though the story was bad and the directing was nothing less
than terrible, the worst part about this movie was the extreme over acting. In one of the first
scenes you see Samuel L Jackson interrogating Julianne Moore about her missing child.
Instead of her being the one freaking out that her son is missing, you find that Jackson
literally spazing out and acting like a crack addict. All of this for no apparent reason and
leading to nothing. This tends to be the standard flow of this completely and utterly lame
movie.
Freedomland is the simple story of a woman (Julianne Moore) whose son is kidnapped in an
apparent carjacking and a cop who is determined to find the child. Mixed with a disturbing
ending and pointless social subplots, the movie gets lost in its own thought process and
washed out in its lack of consistency and reality. Through the whole movie you are either
falling asleep or saying "give me a break, that would never happen". There are so many
characters whose story goes unfinished and circumstances that leave you hanging. This
confusing mess of a movie leads to an incredibly disturbing conclusion of which you have to
hear a would be sympothetic character describe how the boys ultimate circumstance
occurs. OK description is one thing but taking 20 minutes to tell a story just gets boring.
Joe Roth who is usually a producer felt that the point of this movie was so important that he
steps out of the producer chair and right up to the director plate, which was a disastrous
mistake. Joe tries to make this movie like a wantabe "Crash" in all of his racial implications,
however he misses the reality of inner city life. I grew up in Los Angeles and actually saw
the inner action between African American's and Caucasian on a daily basis. Yes as the
movie "Crash" so clearly points out, every race has biased and pre-conceived ideas about
one another, however all of which are deep rooted in circumstance. Freedomland is more
of an insult against both African American's and Caucasians, showing both sides to be
completely impatient and barbaric control freaks. Once the child ends up missing, the
police block off this complex called "Armstrong" which is primarily black. They do this in an
attempt to find the perpetrator and the boy. Their clues supposedly lead right to this spot.
Almost immediately the community starts to freak out and starts calling the police racist and
the police show absolutely no humanity at all. The insult is not showing the lack of humanity
necessarily, but the fact that the movie shows African American's as a bunch of impatient
freaks. I personally believe that given the circumstances, it would have taken a lot longer
than 10 minutes for the riot line to be packed and a heck of a lot longer for the tempers to
flare. By the end of the movie a huge riot takes place with a white cop to antagonizes a
black guy who is equally antagonizing. Again, leading to a very unrealistic climax.
This movie is choppy, boring, and just horribly acted and directed.
1/2 Stars of 4 Stars
Warning to Parents: Disturbing ending, Violence, and tons of Language. Often times I can
usually handle harsh language but when the characters deliver their dialogue, they actually
toss in F words just for the heck of it. They seem pointless and are more overkill than
leading to purpose.
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