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Unfortunately not it…

I was extremely excited, Denzel, Jeffrey, and ASAP? And it was directed by Spike Lee??? A dream come true.

Unfortunately the message of the movie and the story overall get tainted by some extremely questionable editing, extremely choppy and at times confusing, I’m not saying there is a formula that he has to follow but damn… a legend like spike Lee would sure know how his movie is supposed to be edited. Unfortunately, editing ties in directly with the next problem.

Pace, it was just off, it picked up better in the second half, but that first hour, yeesh, not enough to bully you out the film, but enough to make you question it.

Another problem was definitely the dialogue, cheesy, it seemed like the writer (which is not Spike Lee) was trying to sound super realistic and relatable, when it just fell short and didn’t work, just overall a poor screenplay.

And I don’t know how this happened, since Jeffrey Wright and Denzel are in my tops, but the acting was off, it’s not necessarily their fault, we already know that the writing wasn’t the best but if it doesn’t fall under writing, it falls under Spike, which again, seems just odd.

This is just me though, let me know what you guys think, maybe change my mind on a couple of things.

Again, I’m just confused that this was directed by Spike and it fell short for me.

Btw, loved Rocky’s tracks.

7.3/10 Had so much potential to be movie of the year. Great concept and story but so poorly done. Spike Lee took the easy way out everytime directing wise. Some scenes he’d just leave the same camera angle for five minutes for no reason. So many jump cuts at first I thought it was a mistake but it was clearly intentional because there were so many times where mid sentence it would be a jump cut. Denzel Washington was playing this character for the first part of the movie and then all of a sudden at one point he just morphed back into Denzel Washington and forgot to play his character. Again this had elements of an incredible movie but the jump cuts and the random music playing during scenes was tough to watch. During a lot of the scenes it felt like he just hit shuffle and played a random song

honestly was expecting way more.

the trailer 100% oversold me.

the beginning felt very odd & sloppy.

unnecessary amounts of classical music slapped literally all over the dialogue. felt like i was watching a classical concert rather than a movie. it added no feeling to the film whatsoever. whoever made the call should get fired lmao.

the editing was off too, all the hanshakes and hugs at the gym were not in sync jumping from cameras. if it was intentional it didn’t work tbh.

the metro scene color pallet threw me off too. went from plain apple lut to a halation film look back and forth. i was hella confused.

then we finally see a$ap which honestly was the highlight of the film. it started getting way more interesting mid movie heading to the climax.

“truncks” is such a fire track. had me head bobbing in the theater lmfao.

loved that little music vid at the end too haha.

denzel washington absolutely nailed his role. it’s always great watching him act.

have very mixed feelings about this one. it hit, but flopped at the same time idk.

definitely wouldn’t rewatch tho.

7 / 10

I don’t understand major hate for this movie. Yes it’s stylized. Yes the pacing changes throughout the movie. You watch a Marvel movie if you watch your movies to be formulaic so you always know what’s gonna happen next and it’s always shot the same way. This film makes you feel what the characters are feeling. You are thrust into the conflict. The jump cuts during the argument with King (Denzel) and Bethea (Potts) perfectly portrays the frantic energy of the scene. You know when King is scared, nervous, stressed, not by what he says or how he acts but by how the camera is utilized since King is always wearing a persona. This film unveils the intricacies of life. Nothing is black and white. The good guy can by the bad guy at the same time and vice versa. That’s what makes it so real. The characters are fully realized people with emotions that drive them through the moral situations of the film. Denzel gives a fabulously fluid performance that is a change from his recent stoic roles. Jeffery Wright gives the best performance in the film in my options as Paul Christopher. You feel the pain, fear, anger and eventually relief as the story unfurls. The climax scene in the recording studio is extremely powerful. Showing a David King that has grown stronger through his experience. If you are going into the film thinking it’s going to be an action thriller blockbuster then this film is not for you. You have to actually buckle up and watch to experience the ride that this film will take you on. 8/10 recommend

If you need a film to show students how not to write a score for a film, watch this film! Otherwise I wouldn’t bother…

D