Watched: July 6, 2019

Kegger Rating: 4 Stars

MM Rating: 4 stars

Kegger’s Review:

Wow. 

This movie started out making me a bit uncomfortable.  The first actor I see has, in the past, made me laugh quite a bit, but the things he was saying in no way made sense with that preconceived notion.  In essence, I didn’t know if it was meant to be ironic, and that put me in an uncomfortable state. 

Once the story got going, it got really interesting.  John David Washington played Ron Stallworth really well, and his interactions with the rest of the police force were a nice insight into what an African American might have had to go through in that vocation at that time.  I enjoyed the humor he brought into it as well. 

Adam Driver, though…  I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything other than the Star Wars franchise, and he’s pretty wooden in those movies.  Maybe that’s the character he’s playing – I don’t know.  But in this movie, I saw him develop his character quite a bit more than I think I expected.  He did more with his facial expressions than I ever thought would be possible. 

There’s suspense, there’s humor, and there’s growth.  There was some pretty good resolution at the end as well, so that was nice.  But then…

We’re pulled right back away from that comfort to reality. 

It’s a different movie that can make me laugh, make me really tense with the suspense, and make me incredibly uncomfortable throughout.  Really made me think.  And I’m okay with that. 

MM’s Review:

This movie really surprised me, in a good way.

The movie made me uncomfortable, and it also made me laugh. The lead actor was great in his role, and I discovered that Adam Driver can be really good when he’s not Kylo Ren. And holy shit, Steve Buscemi has a brother??

The movie is as-billed, with an African American police officer (working with a white partner) infiltrating the KKK. There’s a lot of hate speech that was regrettably familiar from the KKK side of things. There was also black power speech that did have violent connotations, but also showed how it could be empowering.

For me, the best part of the movie was the levity surrounding these moments. It allowed me to enjoy the movie, while also being moved by parts of it.

Confusingly, the end of the movie turned into a fantasy, whereas before things were very grounded in reality. I was also left without a clear understanding of the message being delivered by the protagonist vs his community representative, one side saying we all need to work together, the other saying there cannot be compromise. Perhaps that was the point, since the answer still seems to be eluding us as a nation.

I grew up in a rural, predominantly white community. It’s unfortunately easy to recognize the seemingly innocent public messaging of the white power antagonists, and powerful to see how easily it dovetails in with the clear hate messaging. I hope this movie isn’t just a reminder or an affirmation, but also an altering look in the mirror for people who have never lived outside of that ugly bubble.