Freedomland (2006)

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.

Bloodied Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) arrives at the emergency room claiming to be a victim of a carjacking in the black neighborhood. Police detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) is assigned the case and she reveals that her son is still in the car. Brenda's brother Danny (Ron Eldard) is a cop from a neighboring town and the outside police force descends on the black town. Soon Lorenzo starts questioning Brenda's story. He recruits Karen Collucci (Edie Falco) and her volunteer group to search for the boy.This tries to be a thriller while tackling some very sensitive racial issues. The problem is that it handles it with no subtlety. It hits the issue with a sledgehammer. There is a good crime mystery here but it gets overwhelmed. It seems like everybody is yelling and nobody is listening. It may be better to introduce Edie Falco earlier in the movie rather than halfway through. It's a frustrating film to watch.

Freedomland (2006): Dir: Joe Roth / Cast: Julianne Moore, Samuel L. Jackson, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe: Disappointing thriller about freedom of culture. Julianne Moore arrives battered at a hospital and informs a detective that she was carjacked and her four year old son was in the backseat. The fact that the alleged carjacker is black causes racial tension. Starts out fine but loses focus with the whole racial bit. Story never focuses on the issue at hand with the missing child. Instead the screenwriter throws in a racial subplot that not only distracts, but is totally unnecessary. Even the ending is difficult to accept. Director Joe Roth does well with ominous lighting but Moore is intolerable with every whine, moan and shriek. This is unfortunate given that she has done wonderful work in films that highlight her talent with notable roles. Samuel L. Jackson does his best as the detective but the role is subdued within that whole racial subplot that never worked to begin with. Flat supporting work by Edie Falco and Ron Eldard as if their contribution could save this farce. When spectators left the theatre there was more than one individual mocking Moore in her plea filled last scene. That is probably not what the filmmakers intended but it is a good sign of a bad thriller nonetheless. It never remains focused leaving one to wonder if the screenwriter was given too much freedom. Score: 4 / 10

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.