User reviews

There is no doubt that director Aimee Lagos has talent and she may go on to bigger things. Some moments of this film are exciting and others are moving. The actors, though largely unknown, give capable performances. Based on a true story, this is a film about how four lives come together in a dangerous carjacking which spirals out of control, even for the perpetrators. The time sequence jumps back and forth and while it's easy enough to follow, it gets irritating. It's also filled with thoroughly unpleasant people and drops the f-bomb repeatedly, and although it's probably an accurate portrayal of the big city, it's hard to care too much even for the innocent victims. Besides the constant flashbacks and flash-forwards, the worst part of this film seems determined to wallow in squalor. There are also a lot of early scenes which contribute little to the central story and clutter the film. The last half hour of the film is the best, when the film no longer has flashbacks and flash-forwards. I was disappointed even though there were moments that were well-done and compelling.

This is the movie obviously made in the vein of an Alejandro González Iñárritu movie or a movie like "Crash" if you will. Problem however is that it's clearly a less clever or well written version of a Alejandro González Iñárritu movie, made with far less talented people involved as well.

There is plenty wrong with this movie and its story and way of storytelling, so I don't even know where to begin really. But I do believe that the biggest problem is not even necessarily with its story but lies more with its characters. There is not one likely enough character in this movie, that you could ever start to care for. It's also because none of them ever get developed properly enough but also because most of them simply don't do anything likable at all in this movie. You just don't feel any sympathy or involved with any of them, which makes this a very distant movie to watch already.

And no, it clearly doesn't help that the characters aren't played by the most talented actors. It actually shows how these type of movies can really benefit from a strong, all-star cast and how terribly uninteresting these sort of movies can work out, without an impressive cast.

But there is also clearly plenty wrong with the story itself. It's just not connected very well or cleverly all. It doesn't feel organic in any way, which is also partly due to some poor dialog. It's all too forced and unlikely and not everything comes together very well, which also results in a pretty abrupt and unsatisfying ending.

Also the constant switching around between 'past' and 'present' events in the movie is not balanced out too well. With this storytelling technique the two things should strengthen each other and add to the movie its tension or mystery but in this case it only mostly works out as redundant and even somewhat annoying. It sometimes spend too much time in the 'present' while not showing enough the events that led up to the movie its 'conflict', which already is a pretty ridicules, unlikely and poorly handled conflict to begin with. Some of the choices that some of the characters make in this movie just aren't very likely at all, which makes you feel even less involved with all of it.

And yes, I'm probably still being too kind about this movie with my rating. I don't completely trash it because it's a smaller movie, with a small budget and with all some very average people involved. Still it's not really worth seeing, though at the same time it's also far from the worst thing you'll ever see.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I saw this at sxsw and it's been hard for me to decide if I really liked this movie. It was shot very well and the director obviously knew what she was doing but the exposition in the writing ruins the story for me. Everything is just made too obvious and is too cliché. The actors were okay, but they didn't really help this problem. It could have been much better and I really liked the idea of the story, but I think that it was just too poorly written. There was one scene where there's a black kid walking home from school with his backpack on and is randomly stopped and basically beaten and searched by cops who are yelling at him and being bad cops and drive off when they don't find anything on him. Then a black lady in a house shakes her head and closes the blinds. I hate cops too, but they don't actually do stuff like that in the middle of the day. Not since like the 1960's anyway. It's just bad writing and way too expositional and it really takes you out of the story and to me ruined it. It's like the writer wouldn't let you think for yourself about the movie, everything needs to be explained to the audience in very simple terms and I don't like that. But I think a lot of people will like this movie.

This movie follows four young people struggling in their own way with their education. The main male lead is a senior high school student (Evan Ross) who grew up in a terrible environment, and tries to escape his "fate" (or what people expect him to become) by studying hard and trying to get a good education. An excellent, excellent movie! The two leading actors (and most others) just did a great job! We saw the part of the movie crew at a premiere; they explained that beyond the heavy tension of the movie, they actually had a hard time not spending their time laughing with each other... This totally did not show up on the screen, the movie is tensed throughout and the acting (again) just excellent. The directing is just sublime as well, excellent shot decisions that gives the proper atmosphere to the movie with a lot of close up shots to focus on the characters.

"I never should have gotten out of bed this morning." Carley (Snow) is about to graduate from college and her father isn't interested in attending. Lena (Serratos) just found out that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Dre (Ross) just found out that he will be able to graduate high school and finally has found a way out of gang life. Kevin (Trautmann) wants nothing more then to join a gang. When him and Dre get into an argument that ends up in carjacking the car that belongs to Carley with Lena has a passenger. The best way to describe this is "Crash" with teens. Total strangers who are all connected by one event that threatens to ruin all of them. This is very moving, powerful and intense. I highly recommend this one but much like "Crash" it's not really one you can watch over and over. The acting is great and the movie is a mix of flashbacks and current events that really make you feel connected to the characters and find your self sad and angry all at once. Overall, a surprisingly good movie that deserves to be watched. I give it a B+

What's wrong with the ratings these days?

96 minutes is a failed attempt to make a film.

What you should expect: Ridiculous character behavior, Clichés all over the place, Repeats, artificial drama, bad soundtrack.

If you would like to see a film using this approach of story telling, go and take a look at Crash 2004.

Did the producers actually think about the audience? People go the movies to enjoy their time, pay money and then they get this? This garbage. This movie is not entertaining, which is OK, if it at least would have other values, something like a message etc. But no, it doesn't have anything which hasn't already been shown or said in a better way.

This one is just a waste of time and as always, don't believe the ratings, this one will end up at 4/10.

I gave it a 1/10 because I wanted my time back after seeing this, the worst thing which can happen to a film.

This movie has no morality and is a message of the lowest denominator playing to the worst racial stereotypes possible. The main character of the plot is this kid who is supposedly trying to do the right thing, good grades etc. while caught up in a crime displays no backbone and yet is shown to be a sympathetic subject by this plot. This movie has the worst message of cowardliness and self-involvement never leading the viewer into something that would justify any of the violence other than childish thrills of what gang life is from the furthest of actual events even shown in a newspaper, altogether a complete waste of time leaving me only somewhat angry for the experience and I can only condemn this movie in the most strongest manner that comes to mind.

I saw this at sxsw and can't stop thinking about it. I work at an inner city school part time and the way this film portrayed the life our kids are living, the oppressive messages they receive and choices they face everyday was so eerily true to life that I just can't shake it. It's a thriller, don't get me wrong, it has your guts in knots the entire time, but there is so much more to it. It has such compassion for all the characters even as it portrays them doing terrible things.

The acting is outstanding, especially Evan Ross who plays Dre and although we don't get to spend enough time with any of the individual characters (I would have liked to know more about the girls especially) we're still drawn in to each of their stories which is ultimately what makes us care about what happens to them in the end. The various story lines are skillfully woven together in a visually arresting manor that brings something new to the multiple storyline genre. A lot of the themes are familiar, but they are handled in a new and fresh way that rings true to life.

It is a very intense film so you have to like that kind of thing, but I would recommend this film to anyone. It will get you thinking.

One of the things that might bring the movie down for you (as it did for me), was/is the acting. It is very crucial to feel or at least be with those characters along the ride (no pun intended). The movie does not achieve that goal wholly in my humble opinion. So while this is dramatic (and the storyline with flashbacks shouldn't be confusing, it's actually adding to the suspense up to a point), it fails to really completely suck you in.

Is reality that bleak though, is what some people seem to ask, and the answer can be yes. It depends where you live and what you consume. I was a bit mad at first, because the movie showed one character playing a war game and this character is hostile. It feeds into clichés, which isn't really good. Fortunately they also showed, that other factors are playing a role in the development of ones character. Decent overall, worth a watch I'd say

I did not like this movie at all. The screenplay was horrible, and the acting was even worse. I am gonna tell everyone i know not to watch this movie. Whoever wrote and directed this movie must be fresh out of film school. It just plain sucked. From beginning to end. It was in the 5 worst movies of all time. The character Kevin was the worst. Dre was next. And Carly was third. Why did Dre listen to the little dumb white boy. Why didn't Carly tell the guy that found her about her friend? This was just poorly written and i hope Aimee Lagos doesn't do anymore movies anytime soon. Thank you very much for wasting my time. And what was the scene about when the uncle called the nephew on his cell phone? If he had a phone why didn't he call the cops? And what was the scene about in the jail cell at the end. It just showed a white screen outside the cell window. Direction was horrible as well.

Writer and director Aimee Lagos wanted to make an urban drama about young people in Georgia but something went wrong with an almost not developed script and poor execution. It can easily be compared to the film Crash but in my opinion it is shown up by the more superior Boyz n the Hood which was made in the early 1990s, especially as how ordinary young black characters are dealt by the police still has not changed.

The film shifts back and forth between a carjacking and its aftermath to the events leading up to it. Two female college students, one of them studying law become victims of the car jacking.

Two young males, one black who is a high school student wanting to escape from his gang culture environment and his white friend, from a broken home, uneducated and want to be accepted by his black friends end up being the perpetrators.

The 96 minutes of the title seems to relate to the carjacking until one of the character's arrives at the hospital and not the length of the film which actually feels rather long in itself with its expletive filled script. The extent of the swearing is off putting as you feel its trying to disguise a weak script which only livens up at the conclusion of the film when one of the females gets to meet one of the attacker's again.

Thankfully the plus points is the acting, David Oyolewo has a minor but important part. At least they do their best to sketch out their roles.

I was fortunate enough to catch this at SxSW a few weeks ago and it's continued to stick with me. I can see the obvious comparison to CRASH although it's a bit unfounded as this movie really didn't seem to be about race at all to me. It just felt like it was about four kids struggling to make their way. Four kids who were all searching for something. Sure their circumstances were different and so they were searching for different things, but what unified them was that they were all just looking to be accepted by their families or their peers. To me, that's a universal story and one that lots of people can relate to. Evan Ross and Brittany Snow gave really amazing performances - well beyond what we've seen of them previously and both stand out to me a real talents to watch. The movie isn't perfect and I'm sure some will find it to be on the nose, but that's only because so many people don't have the life experience to know that this is the way it goes. I've worked in a shelter for homeless youth for several years and the stories these kids tell me are not too dissimilar. I would encourage all of those who see the themes as stereotypical to get outside of their own box for 2 minutes and spend some time with those who will you give example after example of how the youth in this country still struggle with the same things as they did 10, 20, and 30 years ago.

Based on actual events centering on the lives of 2 sets of teens crossing paths with one another since they go to the same school but do not actually know or interact with one another. It has teen Carly (Brittany Snow) usually neglected by her father attempting to build a relationship. Meanwhile, a African American teen Dre (Evan Ross) has his own problems to deal with since although he is supposed to go to the right path his so-called best friend, a white troubled teenager named Kevin. (J. Michael Trautmann) is out of control since his mother is a prostitute and is often abused by her clients. They eventually cross paths upon a car jacking and then throughout much of the entire film viewers wonder whether Dre the teen who is on the wheel is going to do the right thing and drop the girl Dre's friend Kevin had shot to the hospital or not. I mean, if the movie is based on actual incidents we can clearly find out whether the right decision had been made or not by reading the actual incident on a newspaper as opposed to wasting movie time listening to a teen with a gun to make the decision or not.

This film kept me on the edge of my seat! It cuts back and forth between four young people who are all struggling with adulthood responsibilities while being from different ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds. The contrast is really what made it interesting, and how they all came together on this terrible night.

The performance by Evan Ross won him an a much deserved award at SXSW, and Jonathan Michael Trautmann also did a wonderful job. His presence on screen was frightening, and I was actually unsure of what his character was capable of. Brittany Snow is also worth mentioning, as I felt this was a very different role for her and she wore it well.

All around, this film is definitely worth a watch. It's based on a true story and says a lot about adolescence, poverty, and the social classes of today.

I don't normally write reviews, but I'm annoyed with films on IMDb rating as 50/50, that turn out to be worth watching. Other reviewers have complained about the flash back narrative being confusing, it's not - so make your own judgement about the reviewers in question. Also reviewers believe 'the story line is unrealistic' and if modern society was like this we're in trouble; well this is supposed to based around real events and we are in trouble, anyone who doesn't know that needs to open their eyes.

Yes the acting is a little wooden in places, but if the real life events took place as illustrated - it's a touching homage to those who have suffered. Respect to the film makers also, some of the more potentially dramatic and harrowing scenes have been skipped over, removing unnecessary sensationalism.

This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It's a story full of heart and soul, but so true to life it will make you squirm in your seat. It is essentially a story of four kids lost in a world of mixed messages and misdirection who all come face to face with themselves in the worst of all possible circumstances. It's a hard edged look at something a lot of people think is in this country's past - a serious race/class divide that plagues us still today. The familiar story lines are approached with a freshness that rings true to all of us who have been there, but doesn't over sentimentalize. I recommend this film to anyone who is willing to put themselves through a wild ride and wake up to the fact that a lot of the problems we thought we solved are more present than ever. This is truth.

This is an incredible movie, it has similar themes to crash and boyz n the hood but totally stands apart as a masterful film in its own right. The characters find themselves in a very difficult situation with no easy choices, and potentially devastating consequences to bad decisions that don't have much time to be made. The conflict in the mind of each character is very well explored by a great script and careful editing that moves between back story and real time. It's very moving but also thrilling, keeping the tension tight throughout with powerful performances from a strong cast and an excellent music score. The film also has a great look to it, lush, cinematic and gritty at the same time, as though "The Wire" was made for the big screen. If you want a hard dose of thought provoking reality without preachiness, and want to be moved and entertained at the same time, you will love this film.

This film is absolutely remarkable. The acting is elite, the soundtrack keeps you engaged even through those moments where you want to turn away. and the direction and script is beyond stellar. Brittany Snow gives a powerful performance and your heart screams for her character the entire time. Evan Ross balances a soulful excitement with a mixed toughness and his eyes never cease to keep you engaged. He definitely earned his Breakthrough Performance Award @ SXSW. Christian Serratos breaks out and shows you exactly how a serious bad day escalates into ultimate terror. J.Michael Trautmann is a G. Fact. And David Oyelowo commands the screen as Duane with a heart felt humility and real world understanding.

Aimee Lagos has put together an instant classic, based on true events from East St. Louis and set in the beautiful city of Atlanta, GA. She takes you on a non linear ride that refuses to allow you the chance to get comfortable, while keeping your attention glued to the screen. Michael Fimognari shoots a beautiful film and as soon as he establishes a moment, they tear away to another plot point in the day between these 4 kids and the surrounding worlds each group inhabits.

I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good film and is willing to allow the film to affect them beyond the visual and audio of the story. This film will grab you, shake you and leave you thinking hard on the different levels we all experience and deal with in our lives. An amazing and exceptional work.

I thought this movie was going to be a thriller, but I couldn't believe what a great drama it was! The story is really compelling and really draws you in. You think you know where the story is going because of all the flashbacks, but there were several twists and turns that I did not see coming, and by the end I was biting my nails trying to figure out how it would all play out.

The acting in this movie was simply superb, really heart wrenching. I haven't seen a lot of Brittany Snow's other work (I saw Hairspray, and obviously this character was way different than her character in Hairspray) but I was really impressed by what a great job she did in this movie, she seemed very comfortable with her character and wasn't really "acting" at all. Of course the other actors were great as well, I was just especially impressed with Brittany. The other thing that really stuck out for me (in a good way) was the music in this movie. The score was beautiful and really helped underscore the drama that was happening on screen. And did you notice the way that songs subtly tie together two scenes (and two story lines)? Overall it's a great movie with a lot of heart, and I can't wait to see it again!