इमैन्सिपेशन

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.

Will Smith stars in this Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer/Bait) film from last year. Smith, a Haitian slave now in America, has just been conscripted to work for the south getting their rail lines in order but the keepers are especially brutal which spurs Smith to kill one of his minders causing him to flee w/some others while a slave hunter, the always reliable Ben Foster, hunts him down. What follows is a prolonged chase between Foster & Smith (since compatriots are lost on both sides) where Smith's innate sense of survival allows him to finally get his freedom, fight for the North & return himself back to his family. Smith in any other year may've taken this perf (just from its sheer weight & importance) to a nomination but then slapgate happened so, the film notwithstanding, feels like a mea culpa to the governing body of the Oscars to forgive him but until his own personal demons are addressed not even a cancer cure, well maybe that, will get Smith in the good graces of audiences & critics alike. Also starring Mustafa Shakir as a fellow slave & Steven Ogg, from the Walking Dead, as a Confederate sergeant.

"Emancipation" is an Action - Thriller movie in which we follow a slave trying to return to his family after escaping from a plantation where the owners almost killed him. He has to overcome many obstacles on his way back but he is determined to do anything.

I liked this movie because it has a nice, interesting plot that combined very well action with suspense. It reminded me a bit of "12 Years a Slave" of 2013 but I have to admit that "Emancipation" is not that good. The interpretation of Will Smith who played as Peter was very good and he made the difference along with Ben Foster who played as Jim Fassel. To sum up, I have to say that "Emancipation" is a nice movie and I recommend you to watch it.

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.

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.