Crash

[blamblam]

It was good yeah. The people who are slagging it off for stupid reasons, you could at least choose an accurate one - that the soundtrack was balls!

But yeah basically I was impressed with the way it dealt with issues which are taboo, and to be avoided so as not to be branded a racist - namely the ridiculousness of "affirmative action"/positive discrimation, and issues around criminality.

Was a bit unnecessarily OTT at times but hey...

 

[jiggajagga]

Just finished seeing it. I was impressed overall.
It showed the ugliness of racism in a refreshing but none the less disturbing way I felt.
If only all BNP braindeads had the intelligence to sit through this!!!

8.5/10

 

[Random One]

i thought it was crap. extremely obvious and over explained everything-felt like the finale episode of a series.

 

[redsquirrel]

no i've not said that anywhere.....

Sorry that should have read
"Are you really saying that it wasn't marketed as a film which was "tackling racism"?

 

[rubbershoes]

Sorry that should have read
"Are you really saying that it wasn't marketed as a film which was "tackling racism"?

tbh i never judge a film by whether it lives up to its marketing. plot, characterisation, cinematography, pacing etc are the things that interest me

in fact i go out of my way to avoid reading any marketing about a film i plan to see as it generally gives too much away.

 

[redsquirrel]

tbh i never judge a film by whether it lives up to its marketing. plot, characterisation, cinematography, pacing etc are the things that interest me

There are two ways to look at this film. One, whether it was any good as a film (IMO no it was crap, cliched, sterotypical characters, lazy plotting and the utterly moronic ending). Two, whether it was any good at tackling the issue of racism (IMO no again). I think it's entirely fair to look at the second when the scriptwriter has said that was trying to make a film addressing racism.

 

[g force]

Saw it yesterday and was very underwhelmed. First up the premise I really liked and it was the main reason I went to see it, despite reading very average reviews. I also like Don Cheadle after Hotel Rwanda and figured his role sounded interesting.

How wrong I was - turgid, plodding film that bought up a lot of interesting issues in a intereresting way then single handedly failed to tackle any of them.

Oh and Thandie Newton was in it

 

[spanglechick]

Just saw it ( i know... behind the times...) and I enjoyed it. If you can accept that it's unrealistic that every character is going to have race issues (except the locksmith???), and equally unrealistic that all these characters' lives are going to overlapp in any two day period... and I know that's a big "If", then I think it's a good film. The acting is really excellent (except, maybe Thandie Newton - but maybe she just irritates me), and the direction, editing and writing really came together in some places - that Locksmith storyline being a case in point - I had a series of really dramatic, physical reactions to "that" scene. For what it's worth, I saw it with a really multicultural audience, and I've rarely heard a cinema audience of any ethnic mix repond so vocally to all the twists and turns of a film.
It's not some kind of treatise on racism, I don't think. It's a piece of entertainment with racism as a theme - and artistic licence has been used for effect. I don't find that a problem.

 

[kyser_soze]

Good movie pretending to be a film I reckon. Probably a better movie if you're an American and certainly if you come from LA as it feels very different and removed from racial politics in the UK and Europe.

Very watchable tho, and there's a really great streak of very black humour running through it which isn't seen that often in mainstream US movies ('We ran over a Chinaman!').

6.5/10

 

[Brainaddict]

and there's a really great streak of very black humour running through it which isn't seen that often in mainstream US movies ('We ran over a Chinaman!').

Did you not find that particular bit to be very Tarantino 'dead nigger in the boot' humour? I thought it was really derivative.

 

[kyser_soze]

That particular bit kinda yeah, but the streak runs all the way through the movie and that was just a cheap easy exmaple to remember...

 

[nightqueen]

i thought Crash was a film about people who got off on shagging at car crashes??

Yeah that's the James Spader one. They should have avoided using the same title really.


Oh and the film is not merely about racism, it's about predjudice but it is conveyed to the audience in the form of racism because that is the most affecting.

 

[silentNate]

Hmmm... Not seen it but having read this thread I really want to- sounds very interesting

 

[marco mark]

Hi, i watched twice last night, first time fell asleep , i enjoyed it as a movie nothing ground breaking but a good movie, excellent sound track a mate watched today & thought it was Very Good... worth seeing 8/10

 

[tastebud]

I wouldn't bother if I were you. It starts quite well - I enjoyed it for the first half hour, but then it just feels like its beating you over the head cos there's an act of horrible racism in pretty much every scene.
And then you start wondering how its going to be resolved and what the filmmakers are going to suggest to improve the situation, and you are offered *a succession of modern day 'miracles'* a la Magnolia - except that it worked okay in Magnolia because it was that kind of film and doesn't work at all here, because you've spent the whole film dealing with this horrible, nasty problem and all you're offered in the end is 'oooh, there's some good even in bad people and the Universe isn't such a bad place after all'.
Yeah, thanks for that.

you summed it up brilliantly!

 

[floopadelic]

I'd been keen to see this for a while, but what a letdown. Heavy handed, preachy and downright tedious after the first hour.

 

[pigtails]

I really enjoyed it.
I think that it shows that just as prejudices don't define the people they are against, having prejudices don't define the people that have them.

 

[kyser_soze]

I really enjoyed it.
I think that it shows that just as prejudices don't define the people they are against, having prejudices don't define the people that have them.

Wow. Illness suits you. That's a good turn of phrase.

 

[pigtails]

Wow. Illness suits you. That's a good turn of phrase.

Thanks............... i think!!

don't think that was a complete compliment but that's how i'll take it!!

Maybe it's cause my head is twice it's normal size..... oooooh maybe my brain has groan as well as my glands!!



not the mammeries!

 

[editor]

I'm coming a bitlate to this thread as I've only just seen it (on the flight back from NYC). I enjoyed the film a lot. Sure, some of the plot was a bit contrived but I like the way that racism was seen to be everywhere and that it went both ways.

Good movie!

 

[Batboy]

I'm coming a bitlate to this thread as I've only just seen it (on the flight back from NYC). I enjoyed the film a lot. Sure, some of the plot was a bit contrived but I like the way that racism was seen to be everywhere and that it went both ways.

Good movie!

Agree!

Just watched this myself and I felt it was a very good movie I give it a 9/10.

It isn't up to a movie or story to tackle racism with a simplistic 'solution' in its plot as some of the posters here suggest. I think the film played on some wonderful ironies of life challenging our perceptions and that in itself does reflect reality, as we do afterall live in a very ironic world where peoples perceptions are often firewalled.

 

[miss giggles]

It wasn't a great film, but it was extremly watchable. Some classy acting from the jewish shop owner I thought. And Matt Dillion was particularly good too.

 

[blamblam]

It wasn't a great film, but it was extremly watchable. Some classy acting from the jewish shop owner

He was Jewish?