Crash

Rating: 5/10 (10 June 2008)

I feel a plot point in which the story had a chance to develop more and didn’t is when Ryan Philippe is requesting a new cop car because he doesn’t like to ride with his current bigoted partner, Matt Dillon. He approaches the police of chief, who is black, and they both acknowledge that Ryan’s partner is a racist prick. The police chief gives Ryan the option to write a full report on his partners racist actions or to admit to a false digestive problem so he could ride alone. “It’s your decision. You can put your career and mine on the line in pursuit of a just cause. Or you can admit to having an embarrassing problem of personal nature.” I feel that the embarrassing problem of a personal nature the chief is referring to is really Ryan’s passive stance when witnessing an injustice to save himself. It relates to the guilty by association complex. If Ryan would have acted out against racism at the risk of his job, the films message would have had much stronger impact and even a call to action directed towards the audience.