The premise is engaging. Two kids go missing during a Thanksgiving dinner. The fear is a kidnapping with the probability of the girls being raped and killed. Such an outcome could make for a poignant movie, but director Denis Villeneuve would rather cater to the morals of its audience. Blunt realism is therefore overshadowed by silly unlikelihoods. The actions of Keller Dover, the father of one of the young girls, are particularly outrageous.
my rating : 3 of 5
2013
There’s a poignant whipping scene involving soap, but the best part of this Slave story come at the end. It’s a beautiful Hans Zimmer song based on the main character. That it sounds like Time from Inception is a blunder, but listening to it is better than watching the movie.
That’s not a moral criticism. Watching a dramatization of an essentially innocent man, or woman, endure the hardships of slavery generally doesn’t bother me. It’s just that, plotwise, Solomon’s story, based on his 1853 memoir, doesn’t necessarily make for an interesting movie.
my rating : 3 of 5
2013