Overdone

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 1999)

Daniel Day Lewis is a masterful actor. So is Emma Thompson. This film is based on a true story and rarely has a dull moment. But it is marred by "melodramatic" overacting. It is overdone. The events that occurred are rammed down the viewer's throat. The film is pedantic. Yes, we are smart. We know that what happened was very unjust. The film doesn't have to keep hitting one over the head in presenting this tragedy as if we are too stupid to figure out that the arrested men are innocent. Duh!
The film is much too violent. We don't have to view every violent scene that supposedly occurred in actuality in order to get the point. Tone it down, folks!
Still, it is a good film overall. Police brutality has gotta go, eh Rodney King?
I give it an 8.