Freedomland (2005)
23 %
Reviews Counted: 145 Fresh: 34 Rotten:111 Average Rating: 4.6/10
Consensus:
Poorly directed and overacted, Freedomland attempts to address sensitive race and class issues but its overzealousness misses the mark.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Theatrical Release: Feb 17, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $12,260,586
Synopsis: Richard Price's novel FREEDOMLAND is brought to life in this 2006 adaptation. A carjacking-turned-kidnapping provides the set-up for a complex story of racial and class divide, as black detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) attempts to uncover the truth in victim Brenda Martin's... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, William Forsythe, Ron Eldard
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
As an excuse to examine urban malaise at novel length, this premise works; as a film drama, it feels both overlong and sketchy.
Comment
02/13/08
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01/15/08
Clunky, disjointed and with a couple of subplots that linger and then vanish.
04/19/07
A compelling, beautifully written and impossible-to-put-down book has been turned into a mediocre film that seems self-important and listless.
03/01/07
An intensely engrossing melodrama, despite its ultimately squandering an opportunity to deliver an emotional payoff.
02/19/07
As I sat there watching the final slow motion image of a young man framed against the flames of a burning refrigerator box I couldn't help but think, "boy, I should have gone and seen Eight Below instead."
12/13/06
Filme triste de temática complexa, surpreende por ter sido dirigido por um cineasta normalmente incompetente e traz performances brilhantes de Jackson e Falco (já Moore, apenas correta, carrega na caracterização).
07/07/06
This mixed-up, self-important thriller is adapted by Richard Price from his own novel and wastes a talented cast.
06/24/06
Freedomland is a drama that plays like an episode of a TV cop show stretched beyond its limits.
05/25/06
Moviemakers who exploit the suffering and death of children to ratchet up the dramatic stakes belong in the innermost circle of hell, but Freedomland -- clumsy and overwrought as it is -- earns the right to its harrowing trajectory.
05/12/06
Top Critic
Richard Price’s dual plot, of the investigation and the escalating racial tensions that surround it, befuddles director Joe Roth from the very start.
05/12/06
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05/06/06
Freedomland might just play to the MTV generation, but even they'll likely have trouble swallowing this particularly clumsy pill.
05/06/06
Flabby, dull and overlong, it's a B-grade movie with A-list talent and an inflated idea of its own importance. Think Tsotsi crossed with Clockers with the imagination of neither.
05/06/06
Promises much but doesn't connect in the same way as another recent film with racial themes, Crash.
05/05/06
Freedomland has an extremely strong opening sequence but its intriguing premise is quickly squandered in favour of overwritten speeches and a series of boring, nonsensical scenes that seem to go nowhere.
04/27/06
[The] thematic material is so far beyond [director Joe] Roth's reach, you feel that even offering him a stepladder wouldn't help.
03/24/06
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