A drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa, revolving around a policeman and a young man who carries out solo attacks against the regime.A drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa, revolving around a policeman and a young man who carries out solo attacks against the regime.A drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa, revolving around a policeman and a young man who carries out solo attacks against the regime.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 14 nominations
Bonnie Mbuli
- Precious Chamusso
- (as Bonnie Henna)
Tumisho Masha
- Obadi
- (as Tumisho K. Masha)
Jay Anstey
- Katie Vos
- (as Jessica Anstey)
Eduan van Jaarsveldt
- Special Branch Sergeant
- (as Eduan van Jaarsveld)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRobyn Slovo, who is Shawn Slovo's sister, acts as her own mother, Ruth First, in the film.
- GoofsWhen Sixpence scores the winning goal and then gets surrounded by his team and fans; Coach Patrick lifts him up onto his shoulders. However, in the following cut Sixpence is now holding up a trophy. Hardly a second elapsed between cuts and there was no award ceremony in between nor did anyone push through the cheering crowd to bring him the trophy.
Featured review
Philip Noyce's politically charged thriller starring Academy Award winner Tim Robbins and Derek Luke is brilliant and striking picture. When Patrick Chamusso (Luke) is wrongfully charged with terrorist charges and his family violently offended by the leader of the operation Nik Vos, (Robbins) Patrick joins the rebellion to fight against the regime.
As the film touches on the many tones of politics, racism, and economic problems in South Africa, the emotional and dramatic quality of the film is the beauty of it. While the screenplay has flaws in character arc, the film is as beautiful as it is tragic. Derek Luke puts forth the best performance of his short career and is on his way to many potent and demanding roles in the future. His humanity and heroism shown in Patrick carries the film on his shoulders and when years pass, this will be film we will remember Luke's breakout turn besides Antwone Fisher.
Tim Robbins brings forth a frightening turn with his spot on accent but is a little distracting and a miscast. With no direction for his character to go, many questions are left unanswered and frustrates the viewer. He still shows us he is one of the best working actors today when put in the right role.
Bonnie Henna who puts forth an admirable effort as the supportive wife, "Precious," leaves the audience a bit disenchanted but has the strong will that makes the viewer worry for her. While Patrick is training and gets his codename, "Hotstuff" in which the film is adapted from of the same title, Henna is given enough screen time to run with her role and soar.
Noyce creates some great cinematic moments with Luke but I have to say, I give Luke much of the credit. He completely engulfed himself in his role. His charm and charisma is his strongest attribute and lets the film succeed as much as it can. The film however never really "catches fire" rather sparks up all over the place.
Grade: ***/****
As the film touches on the many tones of politics, racism, and economic problems in South Africa, the emotional and dramatic quality of the film is the beauty of it. While the screenplay has flaws in character arc, the film is as beautiful as it is tragic. Derek Luke puts forth the best performance of his short career and is on his way to many potent and demanding roles in the future. His humanity and heroism shown in Patrick carries the film on his shoulders and when years pass, this will be film we will remember Luke's breakout turn besides Antwone Fisher.
Tim Robbins brings forth a frightening turn with his spot on accent but is a little distracting and a miscast. With no direction for his character to go, many questions are left unanswered and frustrates the viewer. He still shows us he is one of the best working actors today when put in the right role.
Bonnie Henna who puts forth an admirable effort as the supportive wife, "Precious," leaves the audience a bit disenchanted but has the strong will that makes the viewer worry for her. While Patrick is training and gets his codename, "Hotstuff" in which the film is adapted from of the same title, Henna is given enough screen time to run with her role and soar.
Noyce creates some great cinematic moments with Luke but I have to say, I give Luke much of the credit. He completely engulfed himself in his role. His charm and charisma is his strongest attribute and lets the film succeed as much as it can. The film however never really "catches fire" rather sparks up all over the place.
Grade: ***/****
- ClaytonDavis
- Oct 5, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Hot Stuff
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $14,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,299,773
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,012,000
- Oct 29, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $5,710,236
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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