Yes, I'm going to be that guy. Sorry

Rating: 7/10 (22 November 2017)

I've seen a lot of reviews of this movie, and all of them have been climbing over one another to say how much they love this film. It's pretty much been a case of this movie is the sole contender for bet picture this year. So, it is some shame that I come here and say that after watching it right now, it is a bit over-hyped. Obviously just my opinion.
Firstly, I want to mention the things I wasn't too keen on. The biggest one - BY FAR - is the fact that there are so many narrative voices, and the narration is so frequent and so invasive that it started to grate on my nerves a lot. It also doesn't help that the narration contains very anecdotal stories that don't serve too much of the plot, and is a case of "show don't tell" being ignored. There is a large portion of the film when the narration goes away, and I was happy, and then it came back and I was just annoyed all over again. The more constructive problem is that this constant infighting of narrative voice keeps the film from having a clear Protagonist, and so for the first hour and a bit before the focus moves to Jamie and Ronsel, you feel very pulled in all directions, and very disengaged sometimes.
Secondly, something that I will admit is both a blessing and a curse is that director Dee Rees has a very realistic style of directing in terms of the world's physics around it, so the light is all natural within scenes ala The Revenant so to speak. The drawback to a lot of this is that there are scenes shot at night that are so lowly lit that you can't see a f***ing thing that's going on. There's one scene this works fantastically, which is one of the best shots of the year, but aside from that, it's really hard. There's also some slight jarring from the film's score which is mostly absent and then comes in like a wrecking ball, and it's really abrupt and kind of kills the mood.
Thirdly, somewhat less importantly, is that the film has a very vague sense of time passing, to the point where I can only tell that 9 months has passed because someone has been born, but there's nothing else to indicate that in relation to everything else.
Lastly, whilst a lot of the cast do more than pull their weight, there are also some players that don't. Particularly, Carey Mulligan and Jason Clarke continue a trend with their work, which is that when they are not being passionate about the role, they kind of sleep it through. This is common with Mulligan, who will give performances like An Education, Suffragette, Shame and Drive, but then in a large amount of other roles, be bland as hell. Jason Clarke likewise, will be a charismatic confident leader in things like Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty and Everest, but then will do this when he is largely distant.
And now, this is when I point out that I do like this film, a lot. It is a long movie, but I did keep going with the elements I didn't like to see where they led, and they led to a fantastic final 45 minutes. Everything has led up to this point, and this culminates in one of the most uplifting final shots of a movie this year, and a haunting scene involving the KKK and a trio of amazing actors. This scene, led by Garrett Hedlund, Jonathan Banks and Jason Mitchell give it their all in a scene that reminded me a lot of the 12 Years a Slave soap scene. Mary J. Blige is also fantastic as well, and those 4 really hold the cast together, moreso with Jason Mitchell who is one of the most exciting new actors around, and who in this movie really makes a statement for Best Supporting Actor. So do Hedlund and Banks, but Mitchell is amazing.
So I don't regret watching this movie; just don't like it as much as others do, but I am very happy I saw it.