Oh Africa Brave Africa

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2006)

Ten points to anyone who gets that reference. I actually thought of that quote in the middle of this movie which I can assure you is not a good sign. I don't know maybe I'm over it. Maybe I'm sick of being informed about problems that are supposed to shock me, because I've gone past shock to "whatever". Had the same problem with Babel. Movies like this aren't really that great if you're not emotionally impacted by them and I wasn't.
I like Djimon Hounsou and Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Zwick but somehow this movie fell flat for me. Now the performances of those actors were very good and Zwick is the master of battle scenes. So if that interests you that should make the movie worth your money right there. But there are huge gaps of nothingness in the form of Jennifer Connelly's performance. Homegirl cannot flirt. She's extremely beautiful and very talented but I found out that she is not charming. And this character was obviously meant to be. And what's worse is that she seems to have come down with a severe case of Ally Sheedy Jaw. Now the character was sort of equivalent to Joaquin Phoenix's character in Hotel Rwanda but that character had the sense to leave when he lost his usefulness and did not hog up screen time the way her silly reporter/love interest broad did. Waste of space. I mean she was integral in terms of being part of their plan but the added on BS of the romance angle just stretched it way too thin. I feel bad for saying this but I really feel like this movie would have been greatly improved had her role been cut down or if another actress had played the part.
There are a few instances in the film that make you go "didn't I just see someone do that in another movie?" especially toward the very end when Leo and Djimon become Sam and Frodo climbing Mt. Doom. I know this is a very cynical comment but that's how I felt coming out of this movie. Parts of it are very well made and most of the performances are good but it's got lots of slow points where you drift and you have to force yourself to pay attention especially when Connelly is on screen. So the good scenes get 9s the bad scenes get 5s and you wind up with a 7/10.