bjournal::juxtapoz

I’d heard a lot of really positive things about this movie before seeing it, but never actually made it to the theatre while it was there. So, I was relegated to seeing it at home.

The movie is very well constructed. It intertwines the stories of three characters- Frank Lucas, Richie Roberts, and the Vietnam War- masterfully. It is usually the case that what is happening to one of the characters sets the stage for what will happen to the next. This doesn’t mean it is predictable, however, as sometimes the characters are growing together (both men gain stature through their successes), but sometimes they are growing apart (one of the two men is “winning,” for instance).

This intertwining of characters does a good job of developing both sides pretty evenly (with the War serving in a more neutral or narrative role), and thus it is easy to see the humanity in both Frank and Richie. It also makes it easy to see how all the pieces of the story fit together, even though they are often brought together from different sides, or, on occasion, from different times. The host of other characters did an excellent job as well (I especially enjoyed RZA working as a cop and then doing an impersonation of a junkie called “Boogaloo”, and really added to the overall flavor of the tale.

Ultimately, however, I feel that this movie was only really successful in telling this story, and not as a movie. In other words, the story is why (I feel) this movie was so critically acclaimed and not because the filmmakers or actors did something exceptional.* Because when you mix two top-shelf actors,  top-shelf director, excellent supporting cast (by the way, hats off to my man, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who consistently finds himself in excellent roles in good movies), and a great story, you really should be making something phenomenal and not something that’s ok.

*Note, I said exceptional here. This is ultimately a good movie, and I enjoyed it, but there just isn’t anything that stands out.