"A Great Ensemble Cast Delivers"

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2005)

Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters. A black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more.
Paul Haggis won an Oscar for his work on the Best Picture winner "Million Dollar Baby". While "Baby" itself doesn't deserve the praise that it is given, the writing did. Here Haggis gives us another piece of work that will have some in tears and others filled with rage at the morals of society.
Crash's core theme is that of racism and how it is destroying today's society. Crash tries to get the point across that this prejudice is destroying our ways of communication with each other. The film uses L.A. as it's setting to show us that virtually anyone and everyone can be racist. Which is where Crash faults. Although the film does deal with this theme, about 95% of the characters are racist and uses almost every stereotype to showcase the problems in society.
With those two missteps aside, Crash is a film that delivers everything that is promises to. Brilliant writing, good directing and a cast ensemble that gives us great performances. Paul Haggis wrote characters that had problems and he knew exactly how to present them to us and how to deal with them. Many directors who write the material have a hard time trying to abstract the material to screen. David S. Goyer failed at this with Blade Trinity, but here Haggis has enough experience to know what he wants from his actors and in what direction he wants to take them.
Out of all the performances in this picture the select few that would stand out would be the racist cop, played by Matt Dillion. The successful black director, played by Terrance Howard and the racist wife of the district attorney played by Sandra Bullock. Dillion shows that his character is an egotistical selfish prick, but in the end, we end of not hating him, but feeling sorrow for him. He has the trouble of taking care of a sick father and finally puts the life of an individual before the colour of their skin. Terrance Howard gives a performance that is just as good as his portrayal of a pimp in Hustle and Flow. Howard is able to convey so much emotion through his eyes. Finally Bullock plays a character that is radically different from anything that she has done before and is able to convince us of her fear and hate towards those that are of a different race.
Crash delivers lots of moments of tension and fear for the lives of the characters. I was glued to the screen when the little girl put her "invisbile cape" to the test. All the characters effect the lives of each other whether they know it or not and it all fits together perfectly well. Crash is one of the few movies this year to give us a powerful message.
With a talent writer behind the pen and knowing what he wants in this film, he is able to give us a great film. Along with one of the best cast ensembles to grace the screen since the likes of True Romance. Crash gives us a movie that will make us cry, laugh and feel anger towards. Not many movies these days are able to do this, but Crash makes it work beautifully.