Tag: LA Riots

“They’re on West Adams there are boys fighting the police and neighborhood boys are running there.”

In 1991, this was the norm in the midst of the Los Angeles Riots where african american teens and young adults took to the streets in the wake of the Rodney King verdict where the police responsible got away scot free.  The latest drama starring Halle Berry and Daniel Craig follows one foster mother in the wake of this in South Central Los Angeles as she attempts to keep her children safe and out of the clutches of the LAPD.

Altogether, the film is exceptionally cast as Halle Berry, similar to her other roles including The Call where she plays a telephone operator on the phone with a young girl who has just been abducted.  Honestly one can see how Berry got chosen as she captures the same drama and suspense of a woman who just wants to keep as many kids safe as possible.

In addition the chemistry between she and Daniel Craig is a great match as two individuals that go from disliking each other to one of needing the other to survive for the young boys they are trying to protect.  Craig is seen trying to step out of the shadows of his  007 spy espionage that he is known for.  In this role, he is a character that does some dramatic growing from a next door white neighbor who just seems to be annoyed with living in the low life area of South Central to one that actually develops compassion for the kids that used to annoy him.  Ultimately there is just one part that found it distracting to the story line and that is the sex scene, though it is in Berry’s mind, as a director, I couldn’t quite grasp why it was included, unless it just tied to the fact of wanting to see Craig and Berry together in the end.  For me as a viewer, I could have done without it, as it didn’t really do anything for the initial storyline.

There was one breakout actor to point out and that was the young man who played Berry’s son, Jesse, (Lamar Johnson).  As a relatively unknown actor, Johnson’s mannerism throughout the movie was right on point.  One knew that something was going to happen as he was watching everything from being the one to help with the other kids to his first encounter with Nicole, the young girl who he rescues similar to his mom, from the store owner who accuses her of shoplifting.  His strong, yet silent acting built up to the climax at the end with him and one of his friends over the girl and showed just how the riots affected even the youngest of children as he shifted his attention from himself to his foster brothers and sisters all throughout the movie.  It’ll be interesting to watch Johnson grow in other films that he might be involved in.

Because of the films deep roots in Los Angeles, the director did her research and carefully used both archived footage interchangeably with her own actors which ultimately helped to draw the audience into the emotion of the Angelenos affected by the events.  The film wouldn’t have captured the same emotion without it, though the footage is somewhat hard to experience, it does show why the riots resulted  from it.

Kings came out in theaters April 27 and is rated R for graphic language, violence and brief nudity.  Viewer discretion is strongly advised.