Kings (D or 1/4 stars)
'Kings' (helmed by Turkish-French director Deniz Gamze Erguven) takes place in South Central L.A. during the 1992 riots & follows a single foster mom (Halle Berry), her 8(!) children, & her British neighbor (Daniel Craig) during the chaos. How was this film, you ask? My answer: VERY disappointing. 'Kings' begins in March '91 with a decent dramatization of the death of Latasha Harlins, who was killed in South Central L.A. during a skirmish with a Korean convenience store owner who mistakenly thought she was trying to steal orange juice and shot her in the back of the head.
From there, the story jumps in time a bit focuses on Millie (Berry), an apparent foster mother raising eight multicultural children from babies and toddlers to an older teen named Jesse (Lamar Johnson). Millie then takes in 2 more teens, William & Nicole (Kaalan Walker, Rachel Hilson), neither of whom have any other place to stay. Then, on the fateful date of April 29, 1992, after the officers involved in the Rodney King beating are acquitted, utter violence breaks out in the form of rioting. Millie, with help from her eccentric, if-also-helpful neighbor, Obie (our 007, Daniel Craig) -- the only white person in the film who isn't a police officer -- desperately tries to find all her kids in the thick of the chaos.
Good Lord, what a STINKER! Messy script; piss-poor performances; chaotic direction. Although there was big potential in exploring the mayhem of the L.A. riots, Deniz Gamze Erguven's drama is more of a confounding mess than some great revelation. Furthermore, completely missing any kind of tonal consistency, there are moments in 'Kings' when it feels less like a dramatic account of the riots and more a sloppy romantic dramedy btwn. a beautiful but put-upon foster mom & her oddball, drunk neighbor with an inclination for walking around his house naked. Somehow {huge eye roll, here} ... in the lead up to one of the most notorious riots in America's history, this movie took the time to show Millie's erotic dream featuring Obie. RIDICULOUS.
Meanwhile, the 2 older boys in Millie's care both fall-for Nicole -- leading to a mind-numbingly irksome plot development that felt thrown-into the plot just to have something else going on. To say that the characters act foolishly is an understatement. Then there's the group of pre-teens & elementary-aged siblings who have their own side-adventure: looting clothes & toys and then standing near while a Burger King manager begs a crowd not to throw bottle bombs. I wanted to smack every single one of Millie's foster kids; all ages. Like the rest of the movie, this sequence is confusing & completely outlandish -- 'Kings' just did not know what it wanted to be and its intentions seemed to be lost in the editing room.
All that said, most disappointing of all - believe it or not - was Halle Berry. Berry is an actress with skill, but I don't know WHAT she thought she was doing, here. Rare was the moment when she wasn't shrill, frazzled or emotionally overblown {even in moments of calm}. I'm bummed that a movie highlighting such an important of this country's history was executed in such a shoddy manner.
From there, the story jumps in time a bit focuses on Millie (Berry), an apparent foster mother raising eight multicultural children from babies and toddlers to an older teen named Jesse (Lamar Johnson). Millie then takes in 2 more teens, William & Nicole (Kaalan Walker, Rachel Hilson), neither of whom have any other place to stay. Then, on the fateful date of April 29, 1992, after the officers involved in the Rodney King beating are acquitted, utter violence breaks out in the form of rioting. Millie, with help from her eccentric, if-also-helpful neighbor, Obie (our 007, Daniel Craig) -- the only white person in the film who isn't a police officer -- desperately tries to find all her kids in the thick of the chaos.
Good Lord, what a STINKER! Messy script; piss-poor performances; chaotic direction. Although there was big potential in exploring the mayhem of the L.A. riots, Deniz Gamze Erguven's drama is more of a confounding mess than some great revelation. Furthermore, completely missing any kind of tonal consistency, there are moments in 'Kings' when it feels less like a dramatic account of the riots and more a sloppy romantic dramedy btwn. a beautiful but put-upon foster mom & her oddball, drunk neighbor with an inclination for walking around his house naked. Somehow {huge eye roll, here} ... in the lead up to one of the most notorious riots in America's history, this movie took the time to show Millie's erotic dream featuring Obie. RIDICULOUS.
Meanwhile, the 2 older boys in Millie's care both fall-for Nicole -- leading to a mind-numbingly irksome plot development that felt thrown-into the plot just to have something else going on. To say that the characters act foolishly is an understatement. Then there's the group of pre-teens & elementary-aged siblings who have their own side-adventure: looting clothes & toys and then standing near while a Burger King manager begs a crowd not to throw bottle bombs. I wanted to smack every single one of Millie's foster kids; all ages. Like the rest of the movie, this sequence is confusing & completely outlandish -- 'Kings' just did not know what it wanted to be and its intentions seemed to be lost in the editing room.
All that said, most disappointing of all - believe it or not - was Halle Berry. Berry is an actress with skill, but I don't know WHAT she thought she was doing, here. Rare was the moment when she wasn't shrill, frazzled or emotionally overblown {even in moments of calm}. I'm bummed that a movie highlighting such an important of this country's history was executed in such a shoddy manner.