The Six Triple Eight

As a veteran and historian, the story of the 6888 Postal Service Battalion is a moving one. This movie is good, but the multitude of mistakes in the movie as well as the overprocessed look of the video grated on me for the entire film.

The overprocessing look is a matter of taste, but the mistakes in military protocol and the battle scene were avoidable. First, the initial battle scene looked like a video game and was blatantly absurd. Second, "attention" and "fall in" are not interchangeable and the proper follow up command after "dress right dress" and "cover" is "ready front", not "ready two". In addition, the use of "eyes right" and "present arms" during the review are incorrect.

Tyler Perry is widely known for his knack for crafting stories that move audiences, but in "The Six Triple Eight," that emotionally charged approach ends up smothering a story that deserved a more refined treatment. The film tackles a powerful and largely untold historical event-the journey of the all-Black female 6888 battalion during World War II-but it stumbles while trying to balance epic grandeur with an over-the-top melodrama that weakens the story's impact. The intention to honor these women is clear, but the final result feels inconsistent, as if Perry is trying to tell too much at once without giving the story room to breathe and truly resonate.

The screenplay, written by Perry himself, tries to cover too many narrative fronts, but the excessive fragmentation hurts the film's cohesion. The introduction is a prime example: jumping from a battle sequence in 1943 to a forbidden romance in 1942, and then to intense military training in 1944, the structure feels more focused on creating isolated dramatic moments than on building an engaging narrative flow. As a result, the film's uneven pacing keeps the audience from organically connecting with the protagonists' journey. Instead of gradually drawing us into the struggles these women faced, we're thrown from one event to another without enough time to absorb the emotional weight of each situation.

Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian) is the emotional core of the story, but her romantic arc with soldier Hugh Bell (Jay Reeves), and the lingering shadow of her lost love Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), end up feeling overly melodramatic and predictable. Lena's grief and loss are crucial aspects of her journey, but Perry's approach makes everything feel too didactic, with explanatory dialogue and scenes that seem more focused on reinforcing her pain than exploring it in a genuine way. Kerry Washington, as Major Charity Adams, delivers a strong and commanding performance, but the script gives her little room for nuance. Her character is portrayed so rigidly and one-dimensionally that she ends up feeling more like a symbol than a real person, which weakens the impact of her fight against systemic racism within the military.

Visually, "The Six Triple Eight" doesn't impress either. The battle scenes suffer from visual effects that look like they belong in a low-budget production, with artificial explosions and a color palette that fails to capture the gravity of the wartime setting. The overly polished production design strips away the realism the story demands, with sets that look more like theater stages than the lived-in, war-torn environments these women endured. The costumes and makeup follow the same pattern, with an unrealistic perfection that clashes with the gritty, harsh reality these women faced.

However, the film does find its strength in the moments when it focuses on the camaraderie among the women in the battalion. When Perry allows himself to explore the bond and solidarity between the characters, there's an authenticity that's missing from other parts of the film. Small, lighthearted moments-like the scenes where the soldiers dance or share their fears-bring a sense of genuine humanity that elevates the narrative. Shanice Shantay, as Johnnie Mae, adds some much-needed levity, but her character dangerously flirts with stereotypes that, while common in this type of story, could have been avoided to bring a fresher perspective to the film.

Another recurring issue is the film's overly speech-heavy tone. Perry tends to favor big emotional monologues, and while that might work in other contexts, here it makes the film feel heavy-handed and predictable. The dialogue often feels like it's written for instant impact, with characters constantly verbalizing their emotions in an exaggerated way instead of letting the performances speak for themselves. This is especially noticeable in the scenes that tackle racial discrimination. Instead of subtly and powerfully showing the pain and resilience of these women, the film opts to hammer the message home in a way that feels like it's reminding the audience at every turn that racism is cruel and oppressive. This lack of subtlety ends up diminishing the natural emotional impact the story carries.

Despite its flaws, the film delivers an important and necessary message. It's a reminder of the crucial role these women played during the war and the ongoing struggle for recognition that continues across generations. Perry deserves credit for bringing this story to light, but it feels like the execution doesn't quite live up to the significance of the subject matter. A more restrained approach could have allowed the emotions to emerge more naturally and less theatrically.

"The Six Triple Eight" is a film with good intentions, but it gets lost in the need to drive its messages home too forcefully, resulting in a drama that, while touching at times, lacks the depth and authenticity needed to make it truly memorable.

Ignore the reviewers who tell you to ignore negative reviews. Reading a review that's partially negative isn't going to hurt you.

Anyway, the Six Triple Eight follows a black female Army unit charged with sorting millions of undelivered letters and packages in a short time during WWII. The unit is given third class treatment and facilities, and the general in charge of their division attempts to undercut their mission.

Kerry Washington (as the unit's hard-driving captain) and the actors portraying unit member all give strong performances. In contrast, the actors who portray the fat general and his racist white officers act like they're in an old 60s or 70s movie about a Southern sheriff and his redneck deputies. A woman in the unit who apparently is supposed to provide comedy also seems to be based on a stereotype.

Tyler Perry deserves kudos for bringing a compelling and touching story to the screen, but he mucks up the movie with clumsy courtship scenes and a heavy-handed treatment of Army racism. The movie is too long at 129 minutes, mainly because it starts with an unrealistic battle scene followed by a courtship straight out of a BET movie. Like most movies "based on a true story," many parts of this movie have dubious historical accuracy.

Opening war scene was so infuriatingly crass that I was set off in mood of anger. From that point I was criticising the acting, the extras, the twee music backing.

It took me a while to find a character I could believe in. Then there were some but the predictable racial agenda just kept surfacing and was being over pushed.

Stereotypes and prissy script writing.

Maybe I'm becoming an old man and younger ones will enjoy the fantasy.

At least there wasn't a lecture on gender.

I also remember all those early US ww2 movies which painted the US in a completely unrealistic light. This felt similar.

This is not a great movie, but it's certainly watchable. And the fact that so many of the previous 141 reviewers say that they had never heard of the 6888 and what they accomplished shows that a movie needed to be made on the subject. So bravo Tyler Perry for doing this.

My one objection is that the movie never spends time telling us how these women managed to get through all that mail in only three months. That was their signal accomplishment, what made them famous, and the movie never tells us.

It does tell us that several other units had been assigned the task previously and failed, so the 6888's achievement certainly merits recognition.

The obvious parallel contrast here is *Hidden Figures*, a downright remarkable movie that does not sell its audience short, but rather takes the time to let us see how those "human calculators" accomplished what they did. It makes us admire their ingenuity and intelligence, as well as their courage and perseverance.

I suspect the women of the 6888 had these qualities as well, but we really never get to see it.

There are books on the subject. I guess I'll have to go out and read one.