Alice

First off, I genuinely love Keke Palmer, Johnny Lee Miller and Common.

With the expectations high I have to say that I may have set myself up for something a little grander BUT that certainly did not take away from what was a very enjoyable film.

There are parallels to The Village (2004) and Antebellum (2020) but they are mostly on the surface. I did guess 'The Village' bit very early on, but I believe that we were meant to, as there was a very obvious hint within the first 15 mins.

Where I think the story suffered a bit was how quickly it wrapped up as there clearly would be a lot for Alice to unpack when she becomes fully aware of her circumstances. Coming in at just over 90mins., I would've dedicated another 30 mins to this easily to flesh out the ending better.

The other reviews that seem to think that the influence of popular (and historical) African-American culture wouldn't have informed the protagonist are reaching. While a bit rushed, Alice indeed becomes informed from a pretty good balance of history and pop culture. And why wouldn't she model herself after the female icons of the time?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I wouldn't discount the parallels too much from The Village, as indeed the movie takes that root from an actual recent historical event.

A few points shaved for the rushing to conclusion, and for a little unbalanced screen time for the antagonists to add some more weight.

The down-voting is an issue for me and those who follow my reviews are keenly aware of this. But, while I wouldn't upvote in response, the honest rating for Alice is 6.7/10 but the score and soundtrack will subsidize that back to a 7/10.

Alice was fine. It was a perfectly enjoyable film. It does not deserve its current 4.4 rating. The acting and cinematography was top notch, the dialogue was simplistic but the story was was entertaining and meaningful. Only mistake these folks made was putting a black face on the cover and-- 'boom!'-- minus three stars. Ignore these jive talkin' reviewers, man; Alice is all-right.

This movie is what it is. I'm not sure you can call it good because it either needed more time to develop or less time spent developing. To anyone that thinks this is an "alternate reality" piece though, this kind of thing happened. Maybe not EXACTLY this kind of thing but black people in the deep south were denied freedom well into the 20th century (as late as 1963). Don't believe me, google Mae Louise Walls Miller, A little research might help you appreciate the premise more and perhaps break away from the THIS DOESN'T FIT IN WITH MY WORLD VIEW SO I AM GOING TO THROW MUD AT IT crowd. Just sayin'....

Alice begins telling the story of how some slave owners were still stuck in their slavery mindset and they used fear of change to justify keeping their slaves from being free. Their anger of losing humans as property like cattle to mentally handicap other humans and believe they are entitled to determining another man's freedom and worth because of a brainwashed systemic racism society. They didn't want slaves to be educated beyond the Bible and only by their interpretation of that belief. We spent too much time in that setting for me. I'm sure it's to make a imprint affect on the audience. When Alice becomes free it's not when she escapes physically but mentally. Overall the acting and storyline created an entertaining watch. Was it a 'must watch'? No. What happened in this film is factual and documented more than 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, there were black people in the Deep South who had no idea they were free. These people were forced to work, violently tortured, and raped. Our history is their history and they rather criminalize 'woke' in meaning questioning them, being aware, being observant and not being ok with the force fed whitewashed accounts that only serves their purpose.

We've come along way in more ways than one. I would've love to see something a bit more original with this talented cast but not oh well. We saw this in Antebellum with Janelle Monae and by the way did a phenomenal job. Anyway if you looking for something to pass the time it's a decent movie . I'm just a retired guy that watches way too many movies .