LoginThe Hurricane Reviews
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 10 months ago on 5 July 2013 02:43
Since I have a weak spot for Denzel Washington and since there was a pretty good buzz around this flick, I thought I should check it out. It was also one of the last movies directed by Norman Jewison (who seems to be retired nowadays) and probably one of his very best. To be honest, I don’t think it is really a great movie but it is sure a good one. First of all, Denzel Washington was pretty good and really convincing in this (he even won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film festival for his performance). You could argue that, as usual, Washington keeps playing ‘the righteous man’ and therefore remains in his comfort zone but, once again, he does it so well, he is so charismatic, he is basically one of the very few actors for whom I never get tired of, even though they keep playing basically the same character over and over again. Considering the story, they kind of romanticized the whole thing a little bit (Carter is a little bit too perfect to be true) and the whole thing remains a little too stereotypical for my taste. Still, it remains a very solid and interesting court-drama and I was entertained from the beginning until the end. To conclude, even though it is not really mind-blowing, I still liked this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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“Hate got me into this place and love got me out”.
Posted : 13 years, 3 months ago on 14 January 2011 11:38
Rubin Carter was about to be on top of the boxing world when it all came crashing to a halt. Carter was out driving around with a friend after a fight and was stopped by the cops. That same night in Paterson, New Jersey there had been a bar room shooting in which the perpetrators shot and killed three people. Carter and his friend were brought in for questioning and ultimately they were identified by a man who could barely see. Carter was sentenced to three life sentences in Federal Prison. A young man named Lesra happened to stumble upon the book Carter wrote during his stay in prison and was moved by what he read. Lesra was moved so much that him and a group of friends vowed to prove Carters innocence.
There is a certain amount of emotion already generated in a film when you know the story is clearly dealing with social injustices of the past. What a lot of films fail to do is humanize these injustices. The Hurricane tells the story from start to finish of Rubin Carters life. Carter grew up in Paterson, N.J and knew that the cops were corrupt and he had trouble with them at a young age. The Hurricane captures the mystery of what actually happened while clearly letting us know that Rubin Carter was in fact innocent. There was never a doubt about Carters innocence, but there was doubt as to why everyone lied and what the actual story behind the crime was. The Hurricane as a film does a good job of setting aside the idea of the crime for the middle act and it deals with Carter and how he is coping with life in prison.
In comes the subplot of Lesra being connected to Rubin. What this did for the film was bring in a brand new human element to the film. Until this point what we had on film was cops vs. supposed criminals and social injustice. The introduction of Lesra brought faith and hope to a story that seemed like it had no light at the end of the tunnel. Lesra and his underlying faith in Rubin and his love for the man is enough to give anyone hope. This was captured with such brilliance on film. When Rubin and Lesra began to interact we forgot about the social injustices, the montages of rallying in support of freeing Rubin (very affective in a film) but what we were witnessing was a man who had seemingly lost all hope rediscovering what it means to believe in something and someone.
What this film does probably better then anything is capture the inner struggle of Rubin Carter. During the scene that Carter spends his 90 days in solitary confinement we see him break down into almost multiple personalities and we see him convincing himself to get through the sentence he has been handed. This in itself was Denzel Washington on set in a darkly lit chamber channelling his inner Rubin Carter and showing exactly why films can be much more than just Hollywood creations. Washington shows us with this scene that real stories can be told through movies, real emotions can be captured and movies can help us become aware of how much some people have struggled.
As previously mentioned during the middle act of Rubin’s stay in prison we got a montage of protests and even a video of Bob Dylan singing his song “The Hurricane” which he wrote to try and help gain support for Carter and help prove his innocence. It was particularly effective because at times while watching we forget that there is an outside world, because we see Carter cooped up in this 10 foot cell trying desperately to remain sane. This look into the outside world reminds even further of how social injustice can change everyone. Despite the mass amounts of protests, the singing the rallying The justice system turned down Carter numerous times for appeal simply because there was “evidence” to support the fact that he was guilty.
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was imprisoned for 20 years, and his final appeal which was successful was captured wonderfully on film. Washington was through out the film convincing but he stepped it up during scenes that captured desperation. There were certain scenes in which everything was on the line for Carter, the first one being the one where he stands up to the guards. The second being him standing up to himself, the third being him standing up to his lawyers saying he has had enough.
Director Norman Jewison downplayed Liev Schreiber’s ability to come in the scene and steal the thunder away from the star. Schreiber is known for his high end performances that are a delight to watch, but unfortunately his character seemed toned down and didn’t allow me to feel like Schreiber had much to contribute. That would be the only real criticism on this entire film. As a director you line up the cast so that you have a lead who is clearly defined and very much the focal point and the cast around them is supposed to fall into place, but when you have an actor who steps into a supporting role who has the ability that Schreiber has you expect there to be a dynamic with the lead that makes the film memorable. That connection never got going in this film and too me that was wasting the potential to have explosive scenes between Liev Schreiber and Denzel Washington.
A film like The Hurricane is a clear identification of what is wrong with society and what we need to change within it. The Hurricane shows you a lot of social injustices and makes you think, that is the sole purpose. Despite all the criticisms one could and might make they all get shifted too the background because of the ultimate message. As Rubin “Hurricane” Carter once said “Hate got me into this place and love got me out”.
There is a certain amount of emotion already generated in a film when you know the story is clearly dealing with social injustices of the past. What a lot of films fail to do is humanize these injustices. The Hurricane tells the story from start to finish of Rubin Carters life. Carter grew up in Paterson, N.J and knew that the cops were corrupt and he had trouble with them at a young age. The Hurricane captures the mystery of what actually happened while clearly letting us know that Rubin Carter was in fact innocent. There was never a doubt about Carters innocence, but there was doubt as to why everyone lied and what the actual story behind the crime was. The Hurricane as a film does a good job of setting aside the idea of the crime for the middle act and it deals with Carter and how he is coping with life in prison.
In comes the subplot of Lesra being connected to Rubin. What this did for the film was bring in a brand new human element to the film. Until this point what we had on film was cops vs. supposed criminals and social injustice. The introduction of Lesra brought faith and hope to a story that seemed like it had no light at the end of the tunnel. Lesra and his underlying faith in Rubin and his love for the man is enough to give anyone hope. This was captured with such brilliance on film. When Rubin and Lesra began to interact we forgot about the social injustices, the montages of rallying in support of freeing Rubin (very affective in a film) but what we were witnessing was a man who had seemingly lost all hope rediscovering what it means to believe in something and someone.
What this film does probably better then anything is capture the inner struggle of Rubin Carter. During the scene that Carter spends his 90 days in solitary confinement we see him break down into almost multiple personalities and we see him convincing himself to get through the sentence he has been handed. This in itself was Denzel Washington on set in a darkly lit chamber channelling his inner Rubin Carter and showing exactly why films can be much more than just Hollywood creations. Washington shows us with this scene that real stories can be told through movies, real emotions can be captured and movies can help us become aware of how much some people have struggled.
As previously mentioned during the middle act of Rubin’s stay in prison we got a montage of protests and even a video of Bob Dylan singing his song “The Hurricane” which he wrote to try and help gain support for Carter and help prove his innocence. It was particularly effective because at times while watching we forget that there is an outside world, because we see Carter cooped up in this 10 foot cell trying desperately to remain sane. This look into the outside world reminds even further of how social injustice can change everyone. Despite the mass amounts of protests, the singing the rallying The justice system turned down Carter numerous times for appeal simply because there was “evidence” to support the fact that he was guilty.
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was imprisoned for 20 years, and his final appeal which was successful was captured wonderfully on film. Washington was through out the film convincing but he stepped it up during scenes that captured desperation. There were certain scenes in which everything was on the line for Carter, the first one being the one where he stands up to the guards. The second being him standing up to himself, the third being him standing up to his lawyers saying he has had enough.
Director Norman Jewison downplayed Liev Schreiber’s ability to come in the scene and steal the thunder away from the star. Schreiber is known for his high end performances that are a delight to watch, but unfortunately his character seemed toned down and didn’t allow me to feel like Schreiber had much to contribute. That would be the only real criticism on this entire film. As a director you line up the cast so that you have a lead who is clearly defined and very much the focal point and the cast around them is supposed to fall into place, but when you have an actor who steps into a supporting role who has the ability that Schreiber has you expect there to be a dynamic with the lead that makes the film memorable. That connection never got going in this film and too me that was wasting the potential to have explosive scenes between Liev Schreiber and Denzel Washington.
A film like The Hurricane is a clear identification of what is wrong with society and what we need to change within it. The Hurricane shows you a lot of social injustices and makes you think, that is the sole purpose. Despite all the criticisms one could and might make they all get shifted too the background because of the ultimate message. As Rubin “Hurricane” Carter once said “Hate got me into this place and love got me out”.
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