Blue Caprice (2013)

When well made, crime thrillers have the ability to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. And when the plot is based on a real-life incident, the transition on to reel becomes all the more captivating. Usually crime thrillers narrate the incidents from a third-person perspective. But 'Blue Caprice' is a film that investigates the genesis of real-life horrific events from the point of view of the perpetrators. Therein lies its ingenuity which also helps to universalize the narrative. Thus, as a conservative middle- class Indian, I also feel uneasy with the sordid murders. The remoteness of events gets telescoped.I think, it must have been difficult to even write such a film. There must be so many competing narratives and so many different points-of-view to reconcile - especially when you are dealing with serial killings of innocent middle-class citizens. Perhaps the writers and director need to be emotionally detached from the narrative too so as to objectively present the story from such a perspective. Blue Caprice is a slow moving, linear and intriguing drama about a distorted father-son relationship which facilitated their long and bloody journey across north-eastern US. Recently Bollywood also attempted a similar narrative in 'Main aur Charles', in which the plot is narrated from the perspective of a police officer. But 'Blue Caprice' is superb in more ways than one. It gets in deep into the nitty-gritty of relationships - friends, family and strangers. The transformation of an impressionable teenager into one cold-hearted killer is captured with brevity. As I discovered during post-viewing research, the filmmakers do take some artistic liberty with the events. For example, in real-life the mother of the teenager (Lee Malvo) was well-acquainted with John Muhammad. And they moved to Florida first not to Washington. But that's OK. In the end, the film succeeds in getting across a solid story. The acting is splendid from the whole cast. I was really impressed by the character of Jamie- played brilliantly by Joey Lauren Adams. She has that unique voice which matched the character. Its one of my things though - I always give more attention to supporting cast. They are like the props which take lead cast to pinnacle.

blue Caprice 2013 is about real life events that happened in 2002 this film tells the story purely so if anyone is expectation action will be disappointed but off-course there are some chilling moments in the climax yet its slow paced and boring but worth watchable.the plot:lee is an abandoned boy he finds a new father john who brainwashes him lee is driven by hard times & under those circumstances he commit crimes that are unforgiven he kills many innocent people using a sniper rifle through the trunk of a blue Caprice car.the cast is quite good all everyone did their best but the script does not allow & give full control to actors to get the best out of their characters.john tried to stops lee in the beginning when he likes guns & wants to go on a killing spree but later he supports him if your watching these scenes please pay attention as there is a lot in them i will not be revealing the whole thing here.what happened in reality was sad these guys were criminals i wont be discussing all motives but there are some differences in this film from real events however this movie does manage to tell the tale in a decent way because in many cases a lot of films have failed to do so when adapting a novel,real life event etc.Overall Blue Caprise 2013 is a good film but keep expectations below then you might actually like it for what it is my rating is 5/10.

Blue Caprice has some notable and powerful scenes. Obviously the scenes with victims being shot is hard to watch, will turn your stomach and are very well shot. The film avoids being exploitative and yet at times you'll wonder if the film makers are trying to excuse and demonstrate why these men (especially the young boy) ended up doing what they did. Then again I struggled to really understand the point of Blue Caprice and why it was made at all. I don't know how I would have changed the film because its not that I wanted to see them commit the violence and yet I think the subsequent investigation and the desperate plight of law enforcement to stop these two would have made a more captivating film then watching a man and an impressionable boy, both of whom are clearly deranged. I just struggled to figure out what the film makers were trying to do with the story, the characters etc. I didn't find any of it overly interesting the pacing was excruciating at times. The performances of everyone in the film weren't strong enough to carry the movie or make it riveting. It needed better editing, a stronger cast, and a completely different screenplay to be effective. Unfortunately what we are left with is a bit of a let down.Isaiah Washington has struggled to find his place since leaving Grey's Anatomy. I've never seen him as a leading actor and I don't find him particularly good in any role so this was simply too big for him to take on. He isn't believable or even interesting trying to play this supposedly charismatic sociopath. We don't understand him, and we don't even understand his motives and he really drops the ball and gives a rather ho-hum performance unfortunately. His young counterpart who becomes enamoured with this father figure is played by Tequan Richmond. Richmond tries very hard and he's trying to capture this quiet loner who has had a rough childhood but he takes it too far and too much obscure because he seems boring and just not what the role could have been. A supporting cast is basically wasted between Joey Lauren Adams (I'm still trying to figure out why they even had her in the film) and Tim Blake Nelson who is a good actor but completely underused in this particular cast.I understand this is a hard story to tell and capture. That doesn't mean it couldn't have been done properly. Why would you get a director with little experience (this in fact Alexandre Moors first feature length film) and then a cast that is Sunday Night movie quality at best. It just seems this idea should have been brilliant and has Oscar quality idea all over it but a sincere lack of experience and quality makes this one an unfortunate dud. You really watch the film and feel the build up and you're waiting for something significant and powerful to happen and while the crime itself is of course shocking, the film ultimately lets you down and leaves you feeling empty. There are too many high quality "based on true story" films out there to give this time. 5.5/10

I have an unfortunate curiosity when it comes to Black films. I say this because, while there are good ones out there, I don't find too many of them which aren't comedies. So, whenever a drama comes up like Blue Caprice, and it is an indie movie, I cross my fingers and toes and hope for the best. Now, besides the draw of being a Black drama, there are also a few familiar faces in this film. The first one I noticed was Tequan Richmond who most surely will know for his work on Everybody Hates Chris; then there is Isaiah Washington, whose career went to hell after he called someone something derogatory on Grey's Anatomy; and there is also Joey Lauren Adams who I know from Switched at Birth. Now, the characters in this film, I feel, aren't that terribly compelling. Richmond's Lee, is a complicated role, but at the same time it only seems so because Richmond, thus far, is known for working in comedy. Due to this, seeming him as a mostly silent kid who is trying to figure out a way to survive, even if it means doing bad things, helps him be the only actor who benefits from this production. Washington, on the other hand, plays John, who you can tell has issues, but you aren't fully sure if he has PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) from being in the military, though he worked more so in the motor pool, or if he may be truly crazy. Both, for me, didn't really have well developed characters, and pretty much every other character in the film was put into a supporting role and, while given names, they gave you little reason to care about their characters.Which sort of is why the story felt so dull. You see, Lee is a kid who might have been abandoned by his mother as she goes to work in America and she says she'll send for him soon. Thing is, we are left wondering who is going to take care of this 16 year old boy? He doesn't seem to have any family to help, or friends of his mother, so he just ends up wandering the streets until he meets John who is on vacation with his kids. From there, the story begins to make you question things, and seemingly it even deviates from its source material of the Beltway Sniper Attacks. So, for reasons never fully noted, John brings Lee to America and begins training the boy in the ways of handling a gun. After that, the boy slowly morphs into a hardened murderer who sees this man he didn't know for 16 years of his life, as his father who he would do anything for. Including shooting men, women, children and even pregnant women.Let me first state, I have no issues with seeing Black people as villains. Part of the appeal of this film was seeing Washington and Richmond play something evil without being some sort of comical character or gangster. That, perhaps, was one of the few refreshing things about this movie. Also, I think Richmond did really well in his performance of Lee. I must admit though, his appeal as Lee is similar, but not as powerful, as Mo'Nique's performance in Precious. What is meant by this is, you don't really expect much out of Richmond since he has thus far worked in comedy, so you have little to no expectations out of him. So, while he surely didn't give the type of performance like Mo'Nique did, it did however have the similar "Oh, so you can do dramatic roles too?" type of effect.But, outside of some praise for seeing Black villains and Richmond, this movie was just bland. Washington's character John has all this drama in his life with his wife, mistress and situation with his kids, and though it is mentioned a bit throughout the film, you aren't ever really sure what the catalyst was for all the issues the man has. Add onto that, Richmond's Lee, while an interesting character, I don't think they once said the boy's name in the film, or if they did it was rare. Also, they film snatches away the idea that Lee's mom knew John, so they make it so this boy wandering in Antigua finds this man and his three kids and forms a bond with him to the point where he forgets about his mother, and even finding her in America, and decides to stick with this guy who wants him to kill people to prove his love and loyalty. Now it could just be me, but that whole scenario just didn't click as logical, or possible, in my head.Overall: SkipTo be honest, this may make a good film for background noise since the soundtrack has a lot of classical pieces in it, but those intent on watching the film for the story will be left disappointed. It takes a real life event, or better said: tragedy, and while it uses the actual act which would draw you to the story, everything else seems to be an overuse of artistic license. Because of this, I can't even say it is Sunday movie watching, for really why waste somewhere around $10 on a movie which tries, but sadly fails?