Freedomland (2006)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Joe Roth directs "Freedomland", a crime drama starring Samuel L Jackson as a police detective attempting to help a woman, played by Julianne Moore, locate her kidnapped son.The film has been torn to shreds by critics and audiences, but those bored of conventional crime movies should find "Freedomland" somewhat refreshing. Roth's film goes off on odd tangents, dwells on moments that similar films typically leave out, and devotes large chunks of its running time to sequences others usually brush quickly aside. This has annoyed many people, but flawed unconventional movies are often more interesting than conventional ones done impeccably."Freedomland", for example, climaxes with a massively long monologue by Julianne Moore, introduces an interesting social worker (beautifully played by Edie Falco), proceeds in an unusually relaxed, somewhat naturalistic manner, and features a crime that is not only all internal and largely unseen, but completely misrecognised for most of the film. The film also segues into all kinds of odd, offshoot scenes, like those in which Moore (surprisingly) expresses her love for Jackson, Jackson visits an imprisoned Moore and offers her coping advice, and scenes between Jackson and his jailed son.The film features several actors from "The Wire", and opens with a somewhat cold opening, now typical of modern crime films ("The Wire", "Miami Vice" etc). Its themes of racial tension and ethnic clashes are mostly trite, and both Moore and Jackson turn in sub-par work (though Jackson is fun to watch; he does a black Popeye Doyle), but the film captures well both the sense of a large, pulsating community, in which everyone seems to know one another, and the hypocrisy of a society which fawns over missing white kids whilst the plights of African Americans remain covered up or ignored.7.9/10 – If one looks past Roth's confused, unsure direction, this is a very interesting film. See too Wim Wenders' "Land of Plenty" and David Simon's "The Wire". Simon, incidentally, would cite Richard Price (who wrote "Freedomland") as an influence.

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.

This is a curious name for what used to be a reform school were children were mistreated .The place plays a minor role in the movie anyway but it adds some mystery to the scenes where people are looking for the disappeared child.The screenplay is terribly derivative ,and only the two actors 'performance make it a passably watchable work.Particularly Julianne Moore,an extremely ambitious actress who shines when she is given decent material to work with ("the hours" "far from heaven").Her performance as a confused distraught mum is really impressive; Samuel L .Jackson's character avoids the clichés: he is not really a superhero,his son is not the brilliant kid at the university,and we are spared the usual divorce from a wife who's sick and tired of waiting for an always absent cop.The big problem of the movie is that the writers could not (or would not) properly connect the two stories (the mother ,her child and her friends is one thing,the black community is another one ,the latter serving as a very vague and thin background ).

Okay, it was full of racial tension but it wasn't Racist ! It was by the author of Spike Lee's CLOCKERS (1994) so what were you viewers expecting.I found it interesting but in the end disappointing due to the irritating editing ( granted it was better then DOMINO ! ) and overlong time but it's better then any Lifetime or Hallmark movie of the Week any day.I'm actually surprised that Julianne Moore or Samuel Jackson didn't get at least a nomination because they felt like they were real people.The people who hate this film are obviously the same ones who despised similar films like CRASH ( 2004) or JOHN Q. If you want a racist, politically-incorrect movie, watch one of Spike Lee's ( few low-points on his resume) INSIDE MAN. Man, that was over-hyped and really pointless.** 1/2 Stars out of 4. Above-Average but not great.Please Note that I posted this review because I know when a film deserves better even if it isn't all that.