Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Anders Olsen I want to do this briefly. The whole plot is empty and two dimensional. It's boring and cliche from start to finish.As for the acting. If Julianne Moore had not been in it, and made what looked like some kind of effort, I would have given it one star. Had I gone to a theater, I would have gone out half way through, and demanded my money back. Sam Jackson is down right awful from start to finish. Over-acting not to mention awkwardly clunky delivering his lines. While I don't think it's her fault, as it was how her part was written, she spends the movie screaming from start to finish, and you end up just wanting to throttle her.All in all. An absolutely rubbish movie.
cinemaniac2002 In the interest of full disclosure, just the actors alone first drew me to this film. To also know that it was penned by Richard Price made it fairly certain for me that I would respect the work of everyone involved. It is a kind of bias, but time is limited these days so I make my movie choices accordingly. The fact that I only now saw the film in 2013 should provide a perspective of how deficient my movie watching has become.All of that being said, "Freedomland" assembles every element that makes a film superior, at least for me. The acting is realistic and the story compelling. The racial tension that becomes so palpable also seems very real - given what has happened through the years in so many major cities. One of my favorite lines in the film, during a Spike Lee-esque racial demonstration is when one offended member of the community says "Who do you think you are? This ain't Mississippi!" and then soon afterward "Hillbilly!" It should no longer be shocking to anyone in the U.S. how much things start to resemble much of the Southern region of the country in the heat of racial strife. Watching two of the finest actors of our times - Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore is mesmerizing. What they do with this material is utterly consuming. It's always easy to poke holes into films, especially in a story like this, but if you suspend disbelief at a few points, the characterizations are sure to draw you in. Both of these characters are aware of very distinct vulnerabilities that for reasons that may not be apparent will become so eventually. But not with any sort of traditional Hollywood roundup, which is another beauty of this film.Another fine element of this film is the special treatment that relatives of police officers often get, since Julianne Moore's character's brother happens to be a hotheaded policeman. However, as it will soon become apparent, they are not exactly as close as one might have assumed. Edie Falco does a turn as a representative of mothers of children who have been molested, kidnapped or killed. Her intimate conversation with Julianne Moore is the stuff of honest filmmaking and capsulizes what the film is really about. The rest of the story demonstrates what happens after convenient lies and their resultant assumptions are spun out of control.
amirams Freedomland is NOT a thriller, a crime movie or a melodrama. It is not even a movie about the oppression of African-Amiericans or the current shape of racism. If this is what you expect to see, you've probably been mislead and you're bound to be disappointed.Freedomland is a story about one subject and one subject only: LOVE. Deep, complex, multi-layered love that can sometimes lead to dark places.Thrill and crime and skin color are present, of course, but they only serve as tools. A movie is only as good as the tools used to construct it, and this movie happens to use superb tools in all areas - script, acting, directing, filming, music and sound.I read many reviews that blame the film of having too many incomplete and/or irrelevant subplots. For me, this is one of the most coherent movies I've ever seen. I watched it several times and I couldn't find a single shot that was misplaced or redundant - as long as you don't look for the next turn in the plot but judge every piece of film-making by its contribution to the main theme.It takes a little while for this theme to manifest itself, which is why you should watch it more than once - it's the only way to appreciate every moment. I surely will watch it again.
Vasco Cid As many critics pointed out by the time of its release, February is the release slot for some hopeless movies. Too bad that should apply to a movie like Freedomland. I don't say this because the movie should have had a better shot, but because an idea with a good potential was treated as a dull and motionless thriller we get to see every other week. Of course we have this big names above title, such as Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore, but oddly it's not them you when its over. It's a lady named Eddie Falco, whose walkabout role allows her to show how great an actress she is even with the scarse material she's given. Moore and Jackson don't seem like themselves, not on a bad note, but having the two main roles, it is amazing how you come to disregard them. Jackson is always a trustful actor, but Moore delivers a performance that is unlike herself. Director Joe Roth is the one to blame, not for making Freedomland a bad movie, but for making it entirely forgettable.
