Emancipation

This Friday, Emancipation, the newest Will Smith vehicle, was released on Apple TV+. Emancipation follows Peter (Will Smith), as he is torn away from his family and sold to ruthless railroad builders. When he soon escapes, he journeys through the Louisiana swamp in an attempt to find his family and his freedom. This was the first movie for Will Smith after his incident at the Oscars, so I was very interested to see how the movie turned out and how the reception would be. Aside from that, Will Smith is one of my favorite actors so I will watch just about any movie that he is in.

This movie was entertaining enough. No movie with Will Smith in it is ever really unwatchable. This movie was a tight simple chase thriller that also took some time to explore the cruelty of slavery. I also thought the movie was very thriller and was able to build a good deal of suspense with the action sequences and the music (or lack thereof). The cinematography also did a great job of capturing the tone of the movie. The movie is shot on a grey scale to convey the bleakness of the situation and times. I feel that choosing to shoot in this color really added to the movie and gave it a darker more thrilling tone. Of course, Will Smith really carries this movie. He gives a very strong performance while not even needing a lot of dialogue. He is also able to throw himself into the role and give a performance that is very different from his normal roles, yet still does it very well.

However, there are some significant issues I have with the movie. The main issue is that the film is too long. There is a point, about 90 minutes into the film, where the story we've been following up to this point has been resolved and the movie should end. It is so obvious at this point where the escape story finishes and the movie should end. However, the film still has another 40 minutes to go and basically starts a whole other plot line. It felt like two completely different movies mashed together into one film. Once the movie transitioned into the war portion, it completely lost me as I felt that the ending was completely tacked on and unnecessary. Besides that, the film also tries to establish a few subplots that go nowhere. It tries to humanize the slave owners by giving them a monologue about why they treat their slaves bad, which was an odd choice to begin with, but then does nothing with it from that point forward. The movie also tries to shoehorn a subplot about Peter's wife and kids that doesn't really add much to the story and is just there.

Overall, this movie is a solid tight 90-minute escape film with a 40-minute war drama tacked on to the end. If the movie were only the first 90 minutes and ended in the natural place, it would be rated so much higher.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+ Recommendation: Stream it if you already have Apple TV+.

R Rating Disclaimer: This movie is rated R for strong violence (slave treatment) and language (N-word). It is not very gory, just intense as would be expected from a movie about slavery.