Light It Up

I would recommend this movie to almost everyone old enough to watch it. It is a great movie and proves a good point about how students are never heard and often portrayed by the media. There is alot of strong language, but watching it on T.V. is still good enough. It comes on BET alot. If you are wanting a movie that is fast-paced action blowing things up, then this is not the movie. This is just a good mildly-paced movie that portrays urban schooling and how people are neglected and how cops act to rashly and don't give time to analyze a situation.

I just saw this movie tonight. The incident that leads to the seige of the school was such a small thing that at first I didn't think it was possible for so much to come out of so little. But, after thinking a tad longer I realized that it is so easy for things to be blown out of proportion because of what someone says or an accidental occurrence. I thought the storyline was a good one. The movie was entertaining due to the quite frequent jokes and the tension/affiliation between the characters. Part of the reason, however, that the whole thing seemed a bit implausible was because it wasn't revealed until the situation escalated why the characters did what they did. I guess that happens a lot in movies...but it took too long to happen here and holding it off so long didn't really add suspense, increasing interest or anything like that. It made me confused and a little peeved.

On the whole though I liked this movie a lot but it would have made a better TV-movie. I am seriously feeling the soundtrack though...especially Ja-Rule's "How Many Wanna Die," which pulls you in being played during the trailer.

Granted, this movie isn't particularly true-to-life, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. This is a surprisingly good movie with some superb performances. My conscience wouldn't let me sleep if I didn't take time out to mention that Usher gives a fantastic performance, restoring hope in a world where musicians try hard to be actors and fall miserably short of the mark. This movie is well worth your time; go see it.

I thought that the film had a lot of strong, positive messages. I thought that the story-line was unique. The acting was phenomenal from everyone in the cast, although my favorite characters were Rivers and Lynn. I thought they were hilarious. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and I think that most that see this film will enjoy it.

I don't normally go into a movie and get surprised because, usually, I'm pretty good at judging the plot of the movie by the trailors. But, "Light It Up" surprised me. I was expecting a home-boy driven, ghetto school, non-stop cursing, lunitical rampage by a bunch of pissed of kids. What I got was a movie filled with smart kids, except for Rodney, looking for a way to get their voices heard, but soon falling into a downward spiral after it all goes wrong. My favorite character of the movie was Ziggy. Robert Ri'chard was great as Ziggy, and I felt that, even though he wasn't as visible, you could feel more connected to him than to the rest. Forest Whitaker was great as Officer Jackson, the real reason behind the school hostage situation. Usher was pretty good as Lester, and I have to say, Lester's destiny in the movie really surprised me. I did not expect the final outcome to end as it did. Fredro Starr played the thug, Rodney. He's normally pretty good at these roles, and this movie was no exception. I really hope anyone that sees this will get past the school violence B.S. and concentrate on the message. The schools are the kid's. They have a right to be heard too. If you see the movie with that type of mentality then you won't come away dissappointed.