A dose of Reality.

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2006)

Crash is definitely a strong dose of reality. There is no subtlety about this movie. It is so in your face that you can't help but think about it and remember it for a very long time.
Crash tells the interconnecting stories of a group of people from different ethnic groups who live in LA and have there different stereotypes about each other. In the next 36 hours they are all about to collide in a way that will change them forever. There is no holding back with these people. Many of them are very blatant about how they feel, and the opinions they have about one another will have us, as viewers, thinking that we aren't that much different with our own feelings.
The acting is the best part of Crash. Everybody is given depth and we learn to understand why they feel the way they do. But once we think we have the characters figured out, we are thrown a curve ball, and our opinions are suddenly changed about them.
The movie also contains some very powerful scenes. Two in particular stand out in my mind. One involves and overturned SUV where a victim has to be saved before the SUVs leaking gas catches fire. The other involves a father and his daughter which begins at the movie's earliest proceedings as a tender moment that will eventually lead to a big payoff near the film's end.
Even though Crash is a well done film, it still contains some predictable scenes which take away from it's power. It also becomes a little too preachy, but none of this really makes the film boring or too overwhelming. Definitely recommended.