|
|
|
The Hurricane
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Denzel Washington, Vicellous Reon Shannon
|
| MPAA Rated: |
R |
| Released By: |
Universal
Pictures
|
| Web Site: |
www.the-hurricane.com
|
| Kiddie Movie: |
Adult subjects, they'd probably be bored.
|
| Date Movie: |
She might cuddle.
|
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Nah.
|
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Some boxing and shootings.
|
| Action: |
Nah.
|
| Laughs: |
A chuckle or two.
|
| Memorable
Scene: |
No scene stands out.
|
| Memorable
Quote: |
It's a timing thing, but the conversation
between two people starts "You're black." "You're
white."
|
| Directed By: |
Norman Jewison
|
| Produced By: |
Armyan Bernstein, John Ketcham, Norman Jewison
|
|
|
The Hurricane
A Movie Review |
|
 |
There seems to be a similarity for
most movies out right now and that similarity is long. Yep,
the movies are, well, long, and sometimes for good reasons,
like to develop a full story line, sometimes for goofy
reasons, like to develop a full story line, and sometimes
for bad reasons, like to develop a full story line. "The
Hurricane" is long, by my definition any movie clocking over
two hours is long, and it takes a lot to make me forget
that. A few movies have, like "Titanic,"
"Saving Private
Ryan," and lastly "The Green Mile." The story clicks well,
the acting is great, and you forget you've been in the
theater for a while. Unfortunately "The Hurricane" didn't do
the same. Don't get me wrong, "The Hurricane" is a good
film, and Denzel Washington does a fantastic job as Rubin
Carter, but the movie just seemed long, at least to me, and
that was too bad.
"The Hurricane" works to tell the story of Rubin
"Hurricane" Carter. The gist of the story kinda goes:
Rubin's had some troubles in his younger days and has some
run-ins with some racist cops. Rubin ends up in the
juvi-house, escapes, and ends up in the military. Rubin
comes home but the cops find him and send him to jail. Rubin
decides to be a boxer when he gets out of jail. Rubin
becomes a great boxer but the racists don't like this. Rubin
gets set-up for a murder, goes back to jail, and writes a
book. A kid and his Canadian friends find out about Rubin's
plight because the kid buys his book. The kid and his
Canadian friends find new, or maybe overlooked evidence for
Rubin's case. A federal judge says Rubin can go free.
Alright, yea, the story is a little more involved, but
that was the gist of it. You can see it's a little complex,
and yea, it probably does take the two and a half hours to
tell the tale, but there were too many times the telling of
the tale dragged, maybe at no fault of the acting, but maybe
mostly because you already know how the story ends.
Now, acting-wise I'll spotlight two people. First we've
got Denzel as Rubin Carter. I don't know Rubin Carter, I've
never seen Rubin Carter, but Denzel is great in the role,
showing Rubin's transition from returned military guy, to in
jail, to boxer, to pissed off at the system, to losing touch
with reality so he can spend his time in jail, to finding
reality and hope in his new friends, to just being sad that
the system fucked him over. A great role, and he did it
well, and might get the big nomination for best actor. With
that I say if Denzel Washington gets the nomination for his
portrayal as Rubin Carter and Jim Carrey gets the nom' for
Andy Kaufman, I say put them in the ring and let them
duke/wrestle it out for the award. I'm sorry, I digress,
let's get back to the review.
The second person who deserves a lot of credit in this
movie, and maybe even more than Denzel, is Vicellous Reon
Shannon, playing Lesra, the kid who by fate picks up Rubin
Carter's book at a book fair. His life hasn't been easy, and
he portrays that. His life finds direction, and he portrays
that. And his life becomes intertwined with Rubin's, whether
Rubin likes it or not, and he portrays that. If he didn't
portray that well, well, "The Hurricane" would have just
sucked. Like in "The Green Mile" where the supporting actor
ends up being more important, Lesra in "The Hurricane" does
the same.
So, what about a rating? Well, I did like "The Hurricane"
but thought it went on about 20 minutes too long. Don't ask
me where to trim the movie because by doing so I'm sure some
necessary elements would be lost, but all I know is I wasn't
captivated to forget the movie was long. And so, with that,
it's 4 stars out of 5 for "The Hurricane." Denzel and
Vicellous do great jobs, but I just looked at my watch one
too many times.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |
