How this can count as a thriller, I don't know.
I found it boring. The story progressed very very slowly, I wanted to turn it off.
And besides, the scenes with the black guy hitting on Della were another example of the 'token black guy' in a movie escalated to today's 'token black guy who comes onto the hot white girl that no white guy seems interested in' racist crap.
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'token black guy who comes onto the hot white girl that no white guy seems interested in'
hahah what the hell are you talking about man
you might be the only person on the planet to think that
No, he's not the only person on the planet to think that. I didn't have a problem with the black cop or security guard or whatever he was, but most of the time black people were on the screen it was painfully obvious that the filmmaker is simpleminded and ignorant about race.
Maybe it's less obvious if you're not black but I noticed annoying stereotypes immediately. The voicemail recording that starts "yo" and ends "aight", Crowes attempt at sounding black on that voicemail (I almost threw up), the guys workin at the burger joint. All minor parts but all major stereotypes. It was the type of *beep* I thought hollywood became aware of in the past 10 years.
> The voicemail recording that starts "yo" and ends "aight"
They were drug addicts and drug dealers, how do you want them to sound? "Hello, this is Mr. Smith, I'd like arrange and exchange of illegal narcotics with you?"
> Crowes attempt at sounding black on that voicemail (I almost threw up)
Yeah, he attempted to sound black, nor he, nor his character were black. How else would you think a white man would impersonate a black man?
> the guys workin at the burger joint
They do really act like that, as much as I've seen. (I haven't seen much, i live in Europe)
Re: ...the guys workin at the burger joint.
You mean Ben's Chili Bowl? That is an actual place in DC. It was portrayed as is.
Reality is racist?
If you say anything about a man or woman as being black or white or any other color/race, then you're being racist. Why not just see a human being playing the part of a policeman? Once you see a race, then it becomes racist. Race is in the mind after all. Rise above it. We're the human race. The human race - the HUMAN RACE!
Sorry, was I shouting?
Yep, you were.
But... I kinda liked it;)
I think the black guy on the cell phone was a dope dealer. So it's not that unusual to think that he would speak like that and Cal would speak back to him like that.
As to the black guy hitting on Della, I didn't think that was unusual - or even blatant 'hitting on' behavior. The guys working in the burger joint - that's Ben's Chili Bowl, right? Do you really think that is not the atmosphere in Ben's Chili Bowl?
Slow? Yes.
Shot a little counter-climactically? Uh huh.
Racist? C'mon man.
She's a pretty girl and he hollered at her. She was pretty asexual the whole movie, maybe her character previously had a couple of long distance relationships while at Bryn Mawr or Sara Lawrence but was a little intimidated by a tall, confident cop being interested. If not for the incident in the hospital room I think he would have had a shot at dating her...for all we know she had a crush on him but was nervous. It's also possible she's not into guys. Not everybody's as insatiable as Dominic anyway. But race was not an issue between those two IMO.
We can't always look for a reason to call someone a token. The reality is that some writers and directors (and especially producers) don't SEE black people in the picture when they visualize life, ESPECIALLY life in the future.
This director sees black people as naturally occurring in the story. Some are doctors, some are cops, some flip burgers and some steal and do drugs. Personally, I was satisfied with the array. Well, I guess Dominic could have been black and played by Tyler Perry or maybe Eddie Murphy. DC is known for 'down-low' black men. Although I guarantee someone would have had a problem with that.
And one more thing - Russel Crowe was the upstanding artist who didn't go for the glitz and glamour. He did the right thing. And though Collins wife obviously wanted him - he doesn't get the girl. He's messy, lonely and seems a little impotent. An artist could just as easily take offense to that characterization, because it's a common one. Guys with money and power are pricks but they get the girl. But I just saw it as how the character really was in the world of the film.
Dont waste your time with this original poster, click on his name and look at his previous posts! it seems this person feels that every film is racist!!! how about white men cant jump, that could be racist against white people! there are loads of films that think its funny for black characters to make white jokes, so is it only racism when white people do it? this guy is a tit!!!
shareMust be a very frustrating and lonely world for you when you become offended at every little thing you PERCEIVE as racist in movies. Maybe the answer is to not have ANY black actors. That should eliminate ay chance of someone being offended.
shareThere is absolutely no chance at all that Della was interested in or had a crush on the black cop, she didnt display any interest at all and obviously he was way to ugly for her.
Okay so you don't like to see black people on film. So don't watch it you *beep* racist *beep*
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This comment was typed in front of a live studio audience.
Well, I don't know if it was meant to be racist but IMHO the BBC mini series did much better in avoiding those issues, as they included "black", Asian and "Indian" characters, but not as bad guys and speaking like everybody else (though I've read some people think this might be racist too 'cause it might imply the message that only assimilated "others" are "good" "others").
The only clichee in the BBC version which comes into my mind is that they first believed the "black" teenage boy was a junkie/dealer, but this was disproved.
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Average but racist???
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