Simply Stunning

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2005)

f you loved Magnolia and/or Traffic, you will love Crash. It is a similar type of movie, wherein various seemingly unrelated people and vignettes merge during the course of the movie into a whole somehow greater than the sum parts.
Crash shows Los Angeles in all its confusion and contradiction. Across the board there are no weak links in the acting. To note every actor would take too much space in these 'mini' reviews, yet not to mention at least several would be criminal.
Ludicrous and Larenz Tate shine as young black carjackers who talk more about politics and civil rights rhetoric than their 'job', and see their own contradiction as playing to their racial stereotypes. On the other side of the law, Matt Dillon excels as a morally challenged police officer, who shows the best and worst of the LAPD, and is consumed by personal issues away from the job.
Ryan Phillippe, in, I must admit, his first role I have seen since Cruel Intentions, plays a rookie cop trying to make a difference in the world, and plays the character extremely well. Sandra Bullock, in a role a million miles away from Congenialty, exquisitely expresses the fears and anger of post 9/11 white America, and Brendan Fraser is one of this reviewer's favourite actors, whether in serious roles or others.
But if anyone can be considered a central character in this stunning ensemble cast, it is Don Cheadle. In this movie he plays a detective all too well aware of the racial politics in the department and City Hall, trying to do his job well, and having pressure from his mother to look out for his brother.
Throw in a middle class black couple, who have a very bad experience with the police, leading to marital difficulties and wondering whether they will ever 'fit in'; an Iranian family victimised for being 'ragheads' and not knowing why the perpetrators have got Persians and Arabs mixed up; a Hispanic father just trying to provide for and look out for his family, and this is a searing view of the American melting pot.
Very much an impact movie, and nowhere during the movie can you anticipate or predict what is going to happen next or how it will all end. Which makes the best sort of movie, doesn't it? Double, triple, quadruple thumbs up for this one...