sddavis63
There were a lot of potentially good movies in this. The story of a woman who reports her child kidnapped by a carjacker could have been a good movie. The story of the tense relationship between police and the African American community could have made a good movie. The story of the group who search for missing children could have made a good movie. The story of the police detective whose own son is in jail could have made a good movie. Somehow, though, when you force all of those different stories together you don't come out of it with a good movie. Instead, you come out with a muddle that doesn't really seem sure of where it's going and seems to lack any real sense of focus or purpose.The performances from leads Julianne Moore (as the mother of the missing child) and Samuel L. Jackson (as the police detective) were all right. Neither hurt the movie; neither were outstanding.In the end, the muddled state of the movie becomes very apparent in the last 20-30 minutes. At that point, it seems as if director Joe Roth is having a real dilemma trying to figure out where to end this story. It seems to go through fits and starts making its way to a conclusion, as if at the end of the muddle, it was suddenly necessary to try to tie up loose ends of story lines that frankly weren't all that riveting to begin with and could really have been dispensed with. A part of the movie's problem, I suppose, could have been that it just suffers from the inevitable challenge of turning a novel into a movie. I'll confess that I haven't read the novel. Maybe the muddle seems clearer when it's on paper, when you can rehash things more easily, and of course the written word allows for more detailed explanation of plot points. Still, the novel was adapted for the screen by its own author, Richard Price, who isn't a rookie at writing for the screen either. I would have expected him to do a better job of producing a coherent script that was tight enough to work in a 2 hour movie. (3/10)
camilla-91
I just sat through this film and feel very cheated. I had the task of bringing home a good thriller for my family and they gave up and went to bed 20 minutes in. I decided to watch till the end in hope that I could justify the rental money, unfortunately I lost out.Julian Moore plays a mother who loses her 4 your old son in a car hijacking and the rest of the film deals with her and Samuel L Jackson searching for him in a ghetto with race rioting going on around them. This film frustrated me. The actors didn't have a good rapport and often the story was incoherent. Julian Moore, who I'll admit is already one of my least favorite actresses,manages to look haggard and flaky but her acting is grinding and really annoying. Save yourself an hour and a half of your life and bi-pass this really really bad film
amirams
Freedomland is NOT a thriller, a crime movie or a melodrama. It is not even a movie about the oppression of African-Amiericans or the current shape of racism. If this is what you expect to see, you've probably been mislead and you're bound to be disappointed.Freedomland is a story about one subject and one subject only: LOVE. Deep, complex, multi-layered love that can sometimes lead to dark places.Thrill and crime and skin color are present, of course, but they only serve as tools. A movie is only as good as the tools used to construct it, and this movie happens to use superb tools in all areas - script, acting, directing, filming, music and sound.I read many reviews that blame the film of having too many incomplete and/or irrelevant subplots. For me, this is one of the most coherent movies I've ever seen. I watched it several times and I couldn't find a single shot that was misplaced or redundant - as long as you don't look for the next turn in the plot but judge every piece of film-making by its contribution to the main theme.It takes a little while for this theme to manifest itself, which is why you should watch it more than once - it's the only way to appreciate every moment. I surely will watch it again.
rsternesq
If false accusations against black men (who make a tempting target because of the statistics) is damaging our social weal, then making movies about it is only compounding the harm. If everyone took the time to think (a rare exercise in a society dominated by a focus on feelings) one would know that this junk and the others like it are exercises in bathos -- manipulative garbage that brings out hate and does no good for anyone. Please do not watch this except to understand that a film can be bad and bad for you and for us. e pluribus and all that jazz. Oh well, if we want to we can say that this is a lesson but I think there are far better ones out there. Try In the Heat of the Night and any of the Lethal Weapon movies. Far better representatives of an America where race is not the central issue for most white people and only matters to some black people as a bargaining chip.
AD
