Redemption Road (2011)

Sadly Over-hyped

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I watched this movie yesterday not knowing anything about it. The lead actor was unknown to me but there was some great support from the late great Michael Clarke Duncan, Luke Perry, and the gorgeous Kiele Sanchez. The story follows a failed musician and his search for his confidence to perform live on stage again, however, his drinking is seriously hampering any chances. As a result of his struggles he gets into debt with Luke Perry, and to add insult to injury he also sleeps with Perry's wife. Just as things are getting really bad in walks MCD with hope of an inheritance. Thus the road to redemption begins in a blues heavy trip across America, visiting many clubs along the way and including many blues tunes too. Much of the movie is about the trip, but when they arrive at their destination the true redemption is achieved, and the last third of the movie is very enjoyable indeed. I think most rock and blues fans will enjoy this movie of one man's struggle with his own demons, and the lead actor, who I have never seen before really carried this role off well. Luke Perry and Kiele Sanchez both had good support roles in the movie too, and Perry was underused in my opinion.

Yes, this is definitely a story of redemption among several people in this 2010 film.A bitter drifter, a drunk, gets a visit from Michael Clarke Duncan, the latter harboring a terrible secret. Duncan tells our loser that his grandfather has died and that he should go back to Huntsville, Alabama.Not wanting to go, he has a sudden change of heart when a guy, whose wife he has fooled around with, discovers this and comes after him as well for the money he owes him. The guy is a terror and you know by picture's end he will be back to create mayhem.The film becomes one of self-introspection as the two guys travel back to Alabama. We see that they learn about life from each other.When Duncan's dark secret is revealed, our hero character controls himself from taking revenge. The men have forged a relationship.This is basically a good film with a tragic end bringing understanding and faith in the human spirit.

My dad is a huge blues fan, and when I was a very affected mod/new wave teenager in the 1980s, he would sneak me into his favorite haunts to see what I now know was some pretty legendary stuff. So when I ran across the opening credits whilst cruising Showtime, I was immediately hooked by the first of many searingly authentic blues club scenes. Obviously, the key people attached to this movie really gave a shite about this hard-to-pin-down genre of music.All throughout the film, it was the excellence of those key people that really made the movie so great. Morgan Simpson, co-writer, producer, and central actor brings a lot to this movie, and he managed to attract some heavy hitters like just about every other actor, especially Tom Skerritt and Michael Clark Duncan, and the criminally undersung Mario Van Peebles as director. There must have been a huge amount of synergy between Van Peebles and Simpson, because their movie is very fully realized, artfully shot, and brings alive the characters with amazing depth of emotion. Yes, I too cried.My favorite movies are made by guys like Polanski, Scorcese and P.T. Anderson, who totally commit to every aspect of their project, and this movie has that passion. I can see where some might find the storyline and ending, and some of the "fortune cookie" platitudes a bit trite, but I understand: this is an unabashedly sentimental film refreshingly absent of the jadedness/irony/ennui in which many indie directors overindulge.I read a review in an Austin paper in which the reviewer really savages Morgan Simpson's acting performance. She could not be more wrong. I had never seen this actor before, but after being very affected by the depth of his performance, I looked up the movie on IMDb, and saw that he was very key to the overall production of the film, which impressed me even more. And after looking at his fresh-faced photo on his bio page, I got the sense that he really inhabited his character, because he was quite physically transformed into a rather crusty, shady guy whom you really don't want to like, but end up shedding tears for.All in all, a surprising big film that also feels very dark horse. Love it.

The gritty parts didn't pull any punches...this would be a good movie for recovering addicts. Many movies show the characters drinking heavily, but few show the consequences as vividly as in the beginning scenes. The character of Jefferson Bailey was flawed and almost disgusting, but his end of the road status was necessary to propel the plot forward. Maybe the story was too neatly tied together(finding someone and something important at the pawn shop)but I liked the characters enough to go along with the plot. I cried at the end. I cared about the characters, wanted them to overcome their pain and grow. The music was great, sets seemed like places I've been and it was good to see Michael Clarke Duncan, along with Tom Skerritt and the large cast of newer or unknown actors.