McGrit

This is a really good movie that is exceptionally engaging. Mark Wahlberg and the entire cast absolutely transform in to these true life people and give what hits the screen true soul and true emotional connection. Extremely well crafted, you have to tip your cap to the director Peter Berg and certainly to all the real life people who shared this incredible story and their message. Love can eventually defeat hate and that theme was masterfully played in this movie. The closing dialogue drove home the point perfectly.

It's a true shame this movie didn't receive proper awards consideration. It's as masterful a film that was made in all of 2016.

Frankly, the movie itself does not live up to its hype. I never was fully engaged with any character even though it takes more than enough time and delivers a tedious and often painstaking pace. Honestly, it felt to me like the film dragged and that the ending would never arrive. Even though not fully engaged and not empathetic towards any character depicted, there is enough style that I somehow cared about how the story ended. Every scene seemed to me like an exercise in an acting class. It feels like a professor took a group of talented actors and gave them this over-the-top 1970's assignment. Everyone gets an "A" because they are that good but it barely felt like a coherent film to me. It's like their assignment included constant references to try and deliver a "Goodfellas" type tone without having a script to back it up. The events of the conclusion were so easy to spot that I'm sure most everyone will see it coming a mile away.

Overall, interesting but there is far less substance than I was expecting. I have to say this was a let down.