Atrocious Camera Work, Generally Bad Performances, Bad Writing, and Poor Pacing

Rating: 3/10 (31 December 2017)

Factually, I hear a ton of debate. Honestly, whether or not it's accurate makes little difference how I rate the film (though it dramatically affects my perception of the director and writers). In my honest opinion, it felt like a little bit of race baiting. Note though that I don't consider all movies about racial topics as race baiting. 12 Years a Slave is my prime example of a movie that was not race baiting, in my opinion.
The camera in this film detracted so drastically from its impact. I get it that shaky cam can add to dramatic scenes, but I found it way over the top and extremely obnoxious. Many of the closeup face shots were utterly wasted, because they were used at poor times (sort of as filler) and when actors really weren't very convincing. This film was riddled with these.
That leads into my second point. The performances. It was so disappointing to see a film with so much potential being dragged down by people that looked like they weren't even trying. There were moments with some great performances. But these felt like rare exceptions.
One of my biggest issues with this film is the writing. Every time I felt myself feeling for the characters, I realized it was because I know they're human, not because the film earned it by building the characters.
My last main complaint is with the pacing. There were some scenes that seemed to drag on, and at their end I found myself wondering why the film spent so much time on a particular aspect without a better payoff.