"Breaking In" Review: Payback is A Mother
If your kids were trapped inside a house with criminals, would you fight to get to them? That question is answered by the lead in James McTeigue’s Breaking In. She answers with a resounding yes!
Gabrielle Union is Shaun Russell. Her father recently passed and she takes her kids with her to his secluded vacation home to get it ready for sale. Little do they know, four men are already in the house on a mission of their own to steal money from a safe inside. The home is heavily fortified with a security system, cameras in every room, and one remote that controls it all.
What happens next is both formulaic and unconventional. Rather than falling into the usual traps of a damsel in distress, Shaun thinks through her options and slowly works her way to a resolution. Writer Ryan Engle gives us a strong female lead in Shaun and Gabrielle Union deserves a lot of credit in her portrayal of this mother. She’s not a woman scorned as you may think from some of the sound bites of the trailer. Instead, she’s just a woman with baggage. That baggage is never fully explained, and it really doesn’t need to be, but its presence is there throughout the film’s running time.
On the flip side, the criminals in this fit the bill for generic home invasion thrillers. You have Eddie (Billie Burke) the mastermind, Duncan (Richard Cabral) the psychopath amongst the thieves, Sam (Levi Meaden) the reluctant one, and Peter (Mark Furze) the tech genius. Eddie does a lot of mansplaining throughout the film. He not only tells his gang what to do, but how Shaun will think. In some ways he’s the embodiment of stereotypical thought as to what a woman or mother may do in this situation as we’ve been taught in cinema. In other ways it’s just irritating to hear his thoughts connecting each new development.
The film has a tight pace and gets started within the first ten minutes. There isn’t a ton of exposition and backstory as to what Shaun’s father did, why they’re estranged, etc. By getting into the action, preceded with some genuine moments with Shaun and her children, Jasmine (Ajiona Alexus) and Glover (Seth Carr), we’re sucked into the story. There’s an internal clock built into the movie as the criminals have 90 minutes before the cops arrive, but it’s not used to the best of its ability. Regardless, the tension and suspense slowly build in a what would you do, yell at the screen sort of way due to the honesty of Union’s performance.
While the film does well in pacing and suspense, McTeigue seems to have trouble with his framing within the film. It doesn’t feel well thought out and translates to poor spatial awareness at times. You don’t know exactly where characters are in relation to each other. While he does do a good job of isolating characters within the frame (specifically Shaun and her kids are noticeably separated from one another once they are inside the house for the first time) creating a sense of that heightened feeling you get when you’re by yourself and hear a noise, when they do come together it can be jarring.
What keeps this film from being superb is that it doesn’t add anything new to the genre. Films like The Purge and You’re Next brought something fresh to it that keeps you interested. Here, the film is a straightforward invasion thriller and therefore could be considered bland by many. Yet, the writing is driven by an authentic sense of a mother trying to protect and ensure the safety of her young. The crowd I saw it with was hooked into every moment of narrow escape, one-upping the bad guys, and fight Shaun has to give. The emotional strain was so high at one point they didn’t laugh during a scene that was clearly supposed to release the tension. But maybe that was due to the poor performance of the villain? Regardless, this is a good escape for 88 minutes of entertainment this weekend!
Rating: B-
"The Birth of A Nation" Review
The Birth Of A Nation is a film for our time. Written and directed by Nate Parker, it manages to transcend its 1831 setting in which an enslaved man led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, and speak to our present. While current controversy surrounding the film may cast a shadow on its director, the film itself is undeniably effective and must be seen.
The film starts with Nat Turner (Tony Espinosa) as a child. Like all children, he’s trying to make sense of the world around him. While born into slavery, his soul is that of a fighter. His owner allows him to play with his son, Samuel, and along the way Nat begins to learn how to read. Samuel’s mother, Elizabeth (Penelope Ann Miller), nourishes Nat’s developments by helping him read the Bible.
As an adult, Nat (Nate Parker) ministers to his fellow slaves on the Turner property. He preaches about peace, love, and obedience. When the economy gets tough for slave owners, the local preacher suggests that the adult Samuel (Armie Hammer) take Nat around to preach a message of obedience to calm other slaves.It’s during his travels that Nat starts to see the world in a different way. He witnesses the cruelty of slave masters on other plantations. These images of human beings tortured and oppressed by their owners conflicts with the message that Nat is forced to preach and has seen in his studies over the years. It tears at his soul, and has an impact on his outlook on life. In perhaps the most powerful scene in the film, Nat preaches with slave masters at his back, a message of obedience from the scripture while simultaneously giving a hope of vengeance for his fellow enslaved people.
After his wife is brutally raped, Nat sees scriptures in a different way. He slowly begins to believe that he is supposed to lead his people to rebellion, and that God has called him to do it. So he does.
This is not an easy film to watch, although not as unflinchingly brutal as 12 Years A Slave, Parker used a less is more approach. Instead of constantly showing violence, he shows the result of it. There were at least two audible gasps made by the crowd I saw the film with. Yet what’s more powerful and pervasive in a film that occasionally slips into melodrama, is its message. The indisputable atrocities suffered during slavery in the United States are on the screen plain as day, but the links to present atrocities comes through as well.
It’s certainly no coincidence that the The Birth Of A Nation hits theaters 100 years after D.W. Griffith’s monumental, albeit racist, film of the same name hit the screens. I never dreamed that Nat Turner’s story would make it to the big screen, but it has, and in many ways it’s a reflection of how far we’ve come as a nation. This film is a conversation starter for the right reasons and should certainly be seen, because if we don’t learn from our past mistakes we could easily repeat them!
Rating: A-
"Top Five" Review
I canʼt remember the last film I saw that I didnʼt want to come to an end while watching it in the theater. Itʼs rare. “Top Five” is a hilarious ride that you donʼt want to get off of.
Chris Rock knocks the ball out of the park as his third time in the directorʼs chair. Heplays Andre Allen, a comedian who has lost his mojo, and is on the verge of marrying his reality TV star fiancee Erica (Gabrielle Union). Heʼs promoting his latest “serious” film, Uprize, and is making the press circuit. Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) is assigned at the last minute to spend the next couple of days interviewing him. They find commonality as recovering alcoholics, and ask for absolute honesty in an effort to keep the interview unique.
The film is a talkie piece reminiscent of Woody Allenʼs “Annie Hall” or “Stardust Memories”. Andre and Chelsea stay in motion with witty back and forth conversation as they duck into town cars, Sirius radioʼs office, and all the other promotional stops through the course of the day. Itʼs the A/B parallel of the duo slowly revealing their private life and business that comes in to the film and gives it heart. The two make stops at Chelseaʼs house, where Andre meets her mother and daughter. Andre stops through the “hood” and visits his own family in a hilarious scene where his father Carl (Ben Vereen), Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jordan, Sherri Shepherd, and Hassan Johnson totally rip into their “Hollywood” family member. You can totally see where Andre got his humor from, and itʼs an opportunity to let the former SNL stars shine. As Andre and Chelsea continue to talk, it’s clear that they share a chemistry that turns into one of the best romantic comedies of 2014.
Throughout the course of the film Rock infuses his comedic timing as Andre Allen. Sure, heʼs not the best actor, but heʼs playing a comedian which isnʼt a stretch. Itʼs like when Beyonce plays a singer, and we actually get a decent performance. Rosario Dawson is perfect in the role as the quick-witted journalist. Every supporting character and cameo is placed with thought and intention. They all deliver, but most importantly serve the film in such a way to advance the story.
The film is a great love story, and it’s as raw and on point as Rock’s stand up hitting on politics, hip hop, and pop culture issues. Be warned, there is a scene with Cedric the Entertainer in the hotel room in Houston that you can’t unsee. I’m still having nightmares. On the flip side, I think the cameo with Jerry Seinfeld and DMX will be talked about for a while. “Top Five” is one of those films that you would buy the DVD on the spot if they were on sell when you exited the theater. A great choice for the movies this weekend!
Rating: A