Black Cop

I tend to not leave bad reviews but this movie is so grossly bad and has no semblance of reality in it that I had to voice my opinion. You can tell no real research was done and this was just a fantasy of a clueless writer. I couldn't even finish this.

This movie was recommended by my cousin who knows the filmaker but hasn't seen the film yet. Generally we have the same taste in 'movies' so I decided to watch it and I was pleasantly surprised but not disappointed. It is one of the few films that I have seen that I have really considered the layers to the plot, the characters and the message. In this case, the filmaker, instead of presenting a clear message, he presents varying points of view and allows the viewer to interpret and gain their own persepctive. The film introduces us to Black Cop, played by Ronnie Rowe Jr., a cop who is ridiculed and distrusted by the people in his own community and after being racially profiled off-duty, Black Cop reaches a breaking point and we follow a day in his life as he struggles with identity, who to trust, where to belong and the all too often blurred lines between right and wrong. Rowe brings an intensity to the role of Black Cop and the filmakers use of voice over narration allows us to see into the depts of the character and his unique battle as we follow his indignant quest for retribution through anywhere streets in an anywhere city. Black Cops erratic quest to make things right in his own head while wreaking havoc in the privileged white communities he has sworn to protect forces the viewer to question their own beliefs and racial literacy. I felt like Black Cop was not only believable, he was relatable and Sophia Walker in the supporting role had me question how I would feel and react in her situation. With interesting satire and effects Black Cop does a formidable job at exploring the relationship between african americans and law enforcement in cities everywhere.

This intense and engaging film authentically explores modern racial profiling and police violence in a way that is so in your face it is hard to ignore. Ronnie Rowe Jr. delivers an exceptional performance as the title character Black Cop. He is bitter and discontented yet I felt myself drawn to his character and quietly cheering for him. When Black Cop is racially profiled off duty something in him snaps fueling a journey we are called to follow where he spends the day in the more privileged white community using excessive hostility and threats of physical violence. Sophia Walker is wonderful in the supporting role, her emotions are divided and she portrays that well.

The film examines multiple perspectives of the same issue, challenging the viewer to explore racial bias, police violence and their own thoughts and feelings in regards. I think the entire movie is audacious. The filmmaker entertains us with satire and profound drama that invites us to draw our own conclusions, whatever that may be.

I left this movie feeling like I had a responsibility to investigate my own racial literacy. This is a film that has the potential to birth many critical conversations and influence change making it extremely timely and relevant.

You will talk about this movie long after the credits have rolled.

A black police officer starts preying on and abusing white people........

'Black Cop' is an ugly and amateurishly made film. Though Ronnie Rowe is solid in the lead, and his narration, while heavy handed, holds what story there is together, everyone else is a cliche, with every black character innocent, downtrodden and spouting inspirational Democrat Party propaganda, and every white character either openly racist to unbelievable levels in the 21st century or a video game NPC with no reason for existence beyond their skin colour.......

The film is poorly shot and the script is film student-level. The soundtrack is intrusive and distracting, padding out scenes that go on too long with nothing of interest happening onscreen. The speaking direct-to-camera segments are the worst parts, and look like they were filmed on a stage at an acting class rehearsal. I understand that the film was finished with crowdfunding money, so I expect these parts were shot separately, at a later date, and it shows........

Everything that happens after the first half hour is so far-fetched and pointless that any interest in the story collapses: after that it's just watching someone playing a video game, with occasional close-ups of Rowe doing terrible things while looking pained, righteous and noble. And the ending is as preachy and cringe and hamfisted as any Spike Lee joint...........

The victimhood narrative underpinning the movie insists that we live in a society so prejudiced against black people that there is no way for them to succeed, a society in which black voices are shut down at every turn. But the reality is we live in a society in which it's impossible to imagine a movie with this kind of story being made at all if the races were reversed. It's a certainty today that whoever would make such a film would never work again, whereas the writer and director of this one probably only got the funding and support to make this film BECAUSE of his skin colour, and because of the agenda it pushes, which he presumably still believes is edgy and challenging. It's anything but..........

It would be great to see a film made today that deals with racial tensions in an interesting, believable and non-preachy manner. It can be done: Paul Haggis' "Crash" (2004) showed a lot of the same situations as this film, but there every character - black and white - felt believable, and fully rounded, and the aim was an eagle-eye aerial view of society as a whole. The writer and director of this film, Cory Bowles, would be completely incapable of making such a film, as it would require seeing white people as human beings too, with internal lives and interesting, valid reasons for believing the things they believe. They would have to be right sometimes, and the black characters would have to be wrong. That simple, most absolutely basic fact of reality, and morality, (and art) seems utterly beyond his powers or imagination........

There is no art here. No skill. No depth. And very little talent. This 'film' is just a societally-sanctioned racist fantasy that I guess is condoned (and celebrated!) by those with decision-making powers as it is seen as some sort of release valve for the black community, while only driving the races further and further apart. You don't rid society of racism by dividing society up into the 'good' black people and the 'bad' white people and then demanding black and white audiences clap along to white people being beaten up and abused. What kind of nightmarish victimhood-worshipping echo-chamber would you have to be imprisoned in to even think such a thing?.......

What's most disturbing of all is that this is the only kind of film that can be made now about this subject. This deeply divisive, race-baiting opinion is the only opinion. This now is the status quo.

I made it halfway through this movie and that was all I could take. It got more ignorant as time passed.