DiCaprio sustains "irresistibly vulnerable" antihero appeal...

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2007)

After "The Departed", Leonardo DiCaprio once more proves he is all grown up with Blood Diamond. He is terrific in this film with an amazing South African accent, and a credible troubled past and tough guy front. He excels at being the irresistibly vulnerable antihero you can't help but root for.
Jennifer Connelly was also perfectly cast and believable as investigative journalist Maddy, and she and DiCaprio acted superbly; too bad they lacked chemistry. The heat between them just wasn't enough to graduate into a sizzle.
Directed by Edward Zwick (Courage Under Fire, Legends of the Fall, Glory, Last Samurai), this pseudo-documentary about the conflict diamond trade in Africa effectively preaches its message while entertaining the audience. However, Zwick lays on the drama too thickly, milking each scene too often, with some sequences running on too long (sobrang babad). After a while, I thought I was watching LOTR or an episode of Lost. While this is a great way to educate people about a cause, nothing new was really given from a film-making perspective. The story unravels in disappointingly safe Hollywood formulaic fashion, a pity when there was so much material, talent and background to exploit further. Still, Zwick manages to arouse enough emotion from audiences enough to make them part with their money for admission, and in that respect, this film is a success.