Blood Diamond, not the best it could be

Rating: 6/10 (23 December 2006)

Personally, the way the people of this time and place were represented was rather one-sided, and didn't have any heart whatsoever. The heart lay in the main characters, and was well-written in that respect. It's just the people of the land, especially the children, that seemed completely and irreverently heartless. Even if these children were supposed killing machines, there's no way that they couldn't have felt some sort of guilt. Yes, this is shown in one instance, when a child kills a man blindfolded for the first time, as part of a training program for infantile foot soldiers. But, nonetheless, this aspect should have been shown in more than one instance for the good of balancing out the characters. In Shakespeare, every character, even the utilities, have some sort of 3rd dimension. But to make the children of the film completely heartless seems rather careless.
Otherwise, I thought that the writing served some of its purpose. It's borderline propaghanda, but remains entirely entertaining the whole way through. I only fell asleep because I was extremely comfortable and had a rather long and arduous schedule that day.
The acting was top notch in every respect, especially the stars of the film. Leonardo Di Caprio doesn't have so much of a stretch, seemingly, in the suit of his character. BUT!, this is not what I mean. Leo's character actually had a sarcastic depth not seen in Jack from Titanic or his character in The Departed. His strengths show brilliantly in the film, and create a glowing effect throughout the film. You can't get enough of him. Djimon Hounsou's raw performance is as outstanding as Leo's, and typically shines in all of his works, even in The Island he is entirely entrancing. Jennifer Connelly is above her standard performances, and satisfyingly delivers. The utility characters, though some are carelessly written, are still well acted, and make great use of the text they are given.
The cinematography was completely standard. No artistic eye shows up in this film at all. It's rather disheartening to think that Zwick didn't take advantage of the boundaries outside of an action film's cinematographic stylings. There are times throughout the film where a beautiful frame may be shown of a particular instance, and the moment is not taken advantage of. I was rather disappointed in this department.
And in these negative respects, I'm disappointed in Zwick as well. His direction of the images and the story being told could have been far more commanding and innovative. The story was absolutely fantastic, tight, intricate, and well furbished. The substance could have been boosted tremendously, and as the director of the film, if Zwick felt this, he could have solved the problem by either meeting with the screenwriter or sending the script to a decent script doctor, like David Mamet (not to put him secondhand to his stellar play and screen writing careers). Zwick's commitment to the project didn't reach its full potential in my opinion.
In conclusion, Blood Diamond delivers a fun-to-watch action flick with a fantastic cast, great performances, and a great story. Everything else can be seen in your standard horror movie or adventure picture, such as Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, or something of the like.