Kings

The movie was all over the place. No character development, why was Hallie Berry with nine or ten various kids, oh I get fostering. Nothing explained. And I think her and Craig did the movie for free. Spike Lee would put it together better. You have to live the life before you can make film about South Central. Where I grew up. South central was worse than the film but it was a jumbled mess.

There is way too much foreplay to this movie. The actual story starts with a dramatic shooting seven weeks before the riots, then switches to an overburdened mother and her cantankerous neighbour, as well a feisty homeless girl (whom soon attracts the attention of two grown boys living with the mother). I felt there was more attention paid to the story of the homeless girl than the Halle Berry story. The problem with the movie is that this long distance of time and the parallel story lines creates a lack of focus. There is also a constant diversion to the unravelling of the times on the ever-present TV which lead to the fateful night of the riots. I appreciate the ticking time bomb intention. It all seems over-long, over-complicated and thus under-committed. If the story had just followed the mother I feel we could have had a more powerful movie. She has numerous kids, all with charm, and an action-packed story of her own. Once you realise the plot you'll quickly realise that her tale has all the impact needed to bring together all the elements of horror of that fateful day and night. I also believe more attention could have been paid to the riots and looting itself. It was a cheap shot to constantly have to follow that on grainy pre-digital tv images instead of something weightier produced by Hollywood itself. Too often we see this in movies these days. A great movie concept, but the vision is marred by wanting to show too much in too little time. I appreciate how hard that must be, but the means to the end needs to be entertaining, and despite the quality of some of the performances here and the originality and cuteness of some of the story ideas, I felt that that very cuteness ran counter to the seriousness of the parallel story (the homeless girl) and was too much on the plate. Something needed to go, or something needed to be handled differently. It's still a good movie for all that, and definitely an honest salute to those affected by the riots themselves, and Halle Berry's terrific performance will certainly make the effort worth the while.

An unfortunate letdown. It pains me to say this because this had the potential to be very good. "Kings" is a story centered around the LA riots which occurred in the early 90's. It's told through the perspective of a family who find themselves in the middle of the intense event. There was set-up for great drama, but the end result is an uneven mess with little to no pay-off. This movie had the most abrupt and out of nowhere endings that I've seen all year. Early on we seem to be promised an emotional and riveting finale. And we never get that finale. It just sort of ends before the third act is taking shape. The first half of the film suffers a lot. I didn't form much of an attachment with the characters. The editing switches too quickly between people with little moments to breath and for you to get to know them. Besides, almost every scene during the first half consists of people yelling and talking over each other constantly. The pace is unfocused. You can only take so much loud shouting before your only wish is for people to calm down and be quiet for just a second. The silent or calmer scenes are precious because there are so few of them. Halle Berry gives a good performance and so does Daniel Craig. They are both like-able as their bonding slowly progresses throughout the story. If they only picked a better project to be apart of though. It was a waste of their talents. Lamar Johnson who plays Berry's son gets a lot screen-time, and he was really good playing a grounded and sympathetic character. There's much heavy lifting for him to do as he wants to make sense out of the situation and find some peaceful solution to many problems. I was on-board with his story-line until he, of course, disappears towards the end. The development of the character pretty much stopped just as it was about to get the most interesting. Tonally it's all pretty realistic with documentary like montage sequences. Well, except for one abstract dream scene involving Berry and Craig that confused half the audience. It was supposed to be "romantic", but it's like nothing else in the entire movie. The scene comes off as more comedic than anything because of how cheesy the presentation is. It was kind of embarrassing as well, which made me feel bad for the actors.

The actual riot scenes weren't bad. It's the journey up to that point that's difficult to tolerate. If only they didn't let every dialogue scene be people yelling, shouting or screaming. The pulse can't be that high all the time. There needs to be some breathing. I like the actors and the director is respected, but they can't save the movie. We get some sprinkled decent moments, but there's just not enough of them. Oh, I'll give it a point for being shot on film. No complaints on cinematography. Don't rush out to see this one once it comes out. Catch it on VOD or something and be sure to not have the volume too high. Trust me, it's gonna get loud. My other summary of the film is: I like you guys, but better luck next time.

An occasionally decent and thrilling film centered on Halle Berry as an altruistic foster mother. She gets tangled up in the violence and riots in Los Angeles, following the verdict in the Rodney King trial in 1991. "Kings" leaves an impression but despite its burning subject – racism and the abuse of power – it trivializes the seriousness of its own central theme. Also, within the context of the serious subject matter, the forced inclusions of distracting heterosexual romance make it a laughable affair, leaving you with a rather banal impression overall.

A muddled piece that doesn't begin to Capture LA during the riots Halle and Daniels interactions are forced. He goes from angry neighbor to love interest with no bridge in between. The makers knew what they were doing, casting two Bond actors together! That's why I tuned in. But not the best viewing for Daniel and Halle fans....