By skyforbes Throughout the movie, I definitely felt a wide variety of emotions. I absolutely loathed the opening 15 minutes, and admittedly wasn't sure I was even going to finish the movie. The overt pretentiousness and preachiness in those opening minutes were god damn insufferable. It felt both juvenile and immature, while somehow also coming off as holier-than-thou and obnoxiously righteous. I did push through it, and it really only became clear later on in the movie that this was a deliberate choice to reinforce the vanity and arrogance of that particular character… but man, I feel like those opening 15 minutes probably drove away a lot of the audience that it feels like this movie was made for in the first place.
I was really fascinated by the modern portrayal of an underground railroad. It was a neat showcase of a system that I haven't really ever experienced or seen as a well-to-do, straight, white male. I thought it did a good job of reinforcing the importance of community, the struggles faced by minorities and immigrants in the country, and the sort of "racial identity" that forms in the face of oppression. At times it felt tropey and heavy-handed, but I still thought it was interesting and I was engaged as a viewer. I still can't believe they named a character fucking "Junglepussy" and thought that was a good idea.
What absolutely astonished me was how much this movie had as a budget. Holy hell, this did not feel like a 9-figure movie, not at any point, from start to finish. There were a LOT of high-profile actors and actresses in this movie, and I kept asking myself "Why did they spend so much money to give these people so little screen time or plot relevance?" In general, I thought everyone's performances were great, even though they really only utilized Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Benecio Del Torro to any real effect. This was also something I felt was a bit surprising; the whole movie was practically screaming at the audience "BLACK WOMEN MATTER!" and yet the primary protagonists were all male, excluding Willa. This was a persistent issue I had with the movie throughout its viewing; it feels like it was trying to appeal to both black women, and white liberal men, but failing to really attract either (especially after reviewing box office numbers).
After the movie came to a close, I didn't really feel nearly as awestruck as the reviews led me to believe I would feel. I wasn't bored, not really at any point during the movie after those opening 15 minutes… but I wasn't really entertained either. The movie felt like a gigantic build up, with no real crescendo moment, and ultimately no real message. I kept waiting and waiting for that big message to appear, and I realized that the message really came down to "As much as things change, things stay the same" and, at least from my perspective, "Old white men are the devil, and won't share power under any circumstances." (really more of the Lockjaw storyline than anything else)
I ultimately didn't laugh at all, and really felt that titling this as a comedy was a huge labeling error. It was a social commentary piece at best. If I had to rate it, I would have given it a firm 5/10.
Tell me what you thought about it!