Emancipation

Greetings from Lithuania.

Although I have never heard a story about this infamous picture taken during slavery times, nor I saw "Emancipation" (2022) before, I could swore I have seen this movie many times before when i was watching it. "Emancipation" is not a bad film, but its just so shallow and generic and forgettable, that you will forget it after seeing it very quickly. Performances were descent but characters are so two dimensional that i did not care about anyone here, including main character - and that sounds like a problem for movie about some historical event and figure. And that is shame because when you have Oscar winner in a lead role, very good supporting actor as well as very talented director, this should have turn out way better then it was. Unfortunately "Emancipation" was highly predictable and forgettable "actioneer" set in historical time.

Unfortunately I was unable to deeply connect to the characters emotionally. Although the cinematography was excellent, I felt that the movie relied too heavily on it and it wasn't enough to carry the movie. I feel that it was the script/story that felt too simplified. It felt rushed and edited to pieces....and just not thorough enough.

The score was mediocre at best. Nothing new to help us connect.

Top notch acting here, but lack of full character exploration (again lack of good script) feels like a huge injustice.

It did make me want to find out more about this particular American Hero tho.

The character ark is so overdone, its like watching a handful of movies being regurgitated into something so unoriginal it hurts to watch. The feeling I had at the end of the movie was akin to watching Apocalypto, Django, 10 years a slave, My Way and I am legend all at the same time - but in black and white.

It was basic in terms of Direction however the cinematography and was pretty decent at times and so I consider it the only redeeming feature - making 2 stars of my 4 star review; the other 2 stars is split between the story and acting (1 star) and 1 star for the production quality.

I can't stress just how disappointing the story line and acting was - leaving a true disconnect between the viewer and the movie which was by far the biggest set back. Ben Foster was playing a character that we've all seen before. Charmaine Bingwa was the best redeeming feature in regards to the acting. I'm not alone in saying that Will Smith is now in the vain of Nick Cage and Jeff Goldblum, where I struggle to see him as the character he plays rather the person himself playing a character. Unlike Nick Cage and Jeff Goldblum though, Will Smith lacks any theatrical range and is now giving off the impression that his on-screen presence is that of an SNL actor.

If you want to waste 2 hours of your life for a half-assed Saving Private Ryan-esque-D-day-beaches battle scene, then this is the movie I would recommend. Very basic. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Will Smith died shortly after the last Oscars and this production was entirely created with AI and advanced CGI technology to sway us into believing he's still alive.

My biggest complaint is the choice to go black and white, but a really weird looking black and white. It almost looks like it was shot on a cellphone. It's really distracting from trying to actually get into the movie. It was just a really bad choice in my opinion. I like pretty much everything Antoine Fuqua has ever made. Unfortunately, this is probably meant to be the most profound work he has ever done, and it's just not. It's really well made, and well acted, and technically proficient. It just doesn't have the impact that I think it's meant to have, which is disappointing. Plus, Ben Foster is a great actor, but I think he needs to move on from being the go to bad guy. However, the weird choice of the strange looking black and white, or whatever it is I was looking at was what really took me out of the experience the most. Oh well, overall it wasn't bad.

It's nothing you haven't seen before, but that doesn't mean that it's a chore, reflecting on past wrongs and crimes, should be done all of the time, especially, as there are those who don't abhor; here we journey in the mire, the swamps that inflict pain and tire, to escape the evil clutches of the whip, the gun, dog judges, through a world that's cruel and dire, freedom's something you acquire, but you're more likely to win, a back of waves and rippled skin.

For me, the cinematography and the semi monochrome effect detracted from the whole. Some of the dialogue was a bit prosaic and the story was predictable; I needed to have the subtitles on to understand a lot of what was being said. I don't think it will go down as a landmark piece of filmmaking on the subject of slavery, to compare it to 12 Years a Slave or Antebellum or indeed Roots would give it credibility it doesn't deserve, but it does deserve some credit, and it does have a story to tell.