Blood Diamond

Leo and Djimon running: the best thing about this film.

Haha, I kid.

But seriously, Leo and Djimon's performances really are the best thing about this film. The film itself = "meh." I've now had SEVERAL friends approach me saying something to the effect of "Blood Diamond was such a GREAT movie!" and I'm always like, "um, er..." But both Leo and Djimon score big here. I was VERY impressed by Leo's seemingly perfect accent and subtle mannerisms, and was similarly wowed by Hounsou's intense blend of resolve and vulnerability.

Unfortunately, Djimon Hounsou is pretty much definitely a lead. So the only really annoying part if he gets nominated tomorrow is that it's yet another case of category fraud. It's about both men equally - and arguably about Hounsou moreso - and you can't just call him supporting because he's black and Leo's a bigger star. That is the only reasoning I can think of as to how they're getting away with it. And it's just not good enough reasoning. I suppose Leo has the romance storyline, wherein which Djimon seems more "the sidekick," but then Djimon has the "lost son" storyline, which doesn't really concern Leo. So again... Djimon Hounsou's a lead.

Jennifer Connelly, in her "worst supporting actress" film-bitch-award-winning role, is most certainly bad, but bad in a really entertaining way, so I didn't much mind her. It was almost as fun to watch her amp up the camp of her performance as it was to gawk at Djimon's muscles or Leo's tan. And in fairness to her, I'm not sure what else she could've done with the role as written; it seems as though it was already unredeemably bad on the page.

So I'm not as peeved at her as I am at, say, Thandie Newton in The Pursuit of Happyness, who took what could've been a perfectly understandable and sympathetic character and made her into a raging bitch. I really think a quiet, depressed, run-down, put-upon mother would've been far more interesting than the spastic, hateful woman Newton gave us. Oy, talk about overacting... fussy, bizarre, and painfully grating barely begin to describe that perf's inanity.

OK, that was mean. Sorry, Thandie. But you make it so hard for me.

Anyway. I've gotten a bit off track. But I didn't mean for this to be a Blood Diamond review per se, so much as a vague discussion of certain aspects of it, and what else those aspects led me to ponder. I don't really wanna get into the specifics of the film. Suffice it to say that, though I liked BD more than I thought I would, it sits firmly in the realm of mediocrity.

Verdict: "Five oscar nods? That's bullshit."

P.S. it's definitely better than The Last Samurai anyway... what an awful film that was... (shivers)