Redemption - The Stan "Tookie" Williams Story
In the annals of acting, 2004 will be remembered as a banner year for Jamie Foxx. Before his acclaimed turns inCollateral, alongside Tom Cruise, andRay, the Ray Charles biopic, he produced and starred in this made-for-cable movie about former gangbanger Stan "Tookie" Williams. Directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Vondie Curtis Hall (Gridlock'd),Redemptiontracks Tookie's rise as co-founder of L.A.’s notorious Crips, fall to death-row inmate, and rise again to Nobel Prize Nominee. Tookie’s reminiscences to journalist Barbara Becnel (Lynn Whitfield), while he is on death row, frame the story. Virtually unrecognizable from his days onIn Living Color, a buffed-up, dreadlocked Foxx gives an effectively low-key performance, while Whitfield also shines in a less rewarding role.Redemptionmay not have the grandeur ofMalcolm XorThe Hurricane--and Tookie's transformation from man of violence to man of peace happens too quickly--but his story is just as inspirational.--Kathleen C. Fennessy