Predictable and Overrated

Rating: 1/10 (11 May 2005)

Haggis had the previously luck of a weak script, highlighted by a surprise ending, and a strong cast for Million Dollar Baby. Haggis has the same situation for Crash, which I viewed at an advance screening. Crash follows the stories of a number of LA people as they deal with race issues (both as perpetrators and victims) from cops to wives to grocery store owners to blue collar workers, etc.
Don Cheadle and Matt Dillion are wonderfully complex in their roles as a tough detective that has to sacrifice his dignity and morality in order to protect his brother and support his addict mother and a cop whose racial prejudice stems from his father's physical ailments, respectively.
Ludicrous plays a gangster, a solid but not overwhelming performance.
The film does a terrific job of creating tense moments that stimulate the race nerve but it does little to bring up the greater issues of prejudice to be discussed after the movie's over.