Crash

So Crash is an interesting case for me because I've heard a lot about it, but not all of it is good. It won Best Picture back in 2005 and it had a lot of really good actors attached to it. I also heard about it as a really raw look at race relations in America and the kinds of prejudice that people have towards other, especially if they look different. Now race in America is a tall order and it's tough to make a film that really captures racism in the 21st century correctly, but let's see if Crash did it.

Crash is a collection of stories about an ensemble cast of people of all different races and the experiences that ties them all together in a span of about 36 hours.

The underlying theme that ties them all together? Racism.

It's kind of hard to explain exactly what this movie is all about because it's more of an anthology of stories that are connected in one way or another. Think Love Actually but much darker and all about racism.

You've got Sandra Bullock playing a pampered wife of the District Attorney (played by Brendan Fraiser) and their experience of being car jacked and dealing with the fear that is only fueled more by innate prejudices. The District Attorney is working with a detective (played by Don Cheadle) who is investigating a homicide of an undercover police officer. In the same department, you've got Matt Dillion and Ryan Phillippe's characters who pull over Terrance Howard and his wife played by Thandie Newton and there's definitely some racial profiling going on and some misconduct happening on the part of Matt Dillion who is dealing with his father's medical issues and is overtly racist towards a black worker at the HMO. Oh and remember the carjacking? That was done by Ludacris and his buddy and they're talking about their experiences being black in Los Angeles. And then there's a story about Michael Pena being a locksmith, oh and by the way he was the locksmith at Sandra Bullock's house after she got carjacked. And he works on a store owned by Shaun Toub, and Michael Pena is dealing with the stereotypes of being latino, while Shaun Toub is dealing with stereotypes of being Middle Eastern, and it's all these connecting stories, and there's just a lot to it.

I am by no means calling it bad. The movie actually does a really good job connecting all the stories in a really fascinating and dramatic way. Yeah it's all dramatized and a little bit over the top if you think about it, but it's actually done pretty well.

The one issue I have with it is that it's hard to really pinpoint story in all of it because a lot of the time it feels more like these are just a compilation of people being racist or dealing with racist scenarios. I mean I know that there are a lot of characters and the movie kind of needs to get to the action quick so there isn't enough time to show each and every character and get to know them the way we get to know others. But that's the problem, even the characters that I was really interested in, there wasn't nearly enough time to get to know them and get really invested, so when there's really emotional moments, there's not really enough to make me feel as much as I think I should be.

And this isn't necessarily a complaint, but something the clashes with that is the grey area that prejudice puts these characters in. Matt Dillion for example. He does some shady shit, especially in the beginning and overall, he's kind of a racist piece of shit. But then he does something heroic and I'm not totally sure how I'm supposed to feel about him. And the opposite happens too. There are characters that you think are good people and then they do kind of shitty things later on in the film.

In doing so, the message of the movie gets a little bit muddled. I think the point of it is that we all have prejudices, it's how we act on them that make us good or bad people... maybe...

But the other issue is that this movie is so on the nose about the message that racism exists. Like I said before, the movie is so focused on the action and these scenarios of people dealing with racism that it's cringe worthy but not for the right reasons. For example, Ludacris. I have never been a huge fan of his acting. But in this movie he actually does a pretty good job. The problem comes with all his dialogue. Race relations is literally ALL he talks about. I know people who get fired up about race the way Ludacris does in this film, it's definitely a thing. But they also talk about other things. Everything Ludacris says in this film is a political statement about race. And it's not just Ludacris. Every bit of dialogue seems to be some form of micro racism or passive racism and the parts that aren't are parts where people are talking about race and what it means to be "blank". Again, I get that that is the point of the movie, but if you want me to be interested in these characters, I need to know that they are humans, not social commentary.

Now that's not to say they don't get it right at all. There are some really strong performances in this movie and nobody does a bad job. Forced on the nose commentary or not, everyone really brings their A game in this movie. And the MVP of it all is clearly Michael Pena.

I think this was pretty early on in Michael Pena's career and I think he got a lot of his acclaim from the work that he did in this movie and I totally understand why. He is down right talented and he has some really genuine moments in this movie, especially early on. Because he has this genuine moment that is sort of social commentary but more just talking about him as a person, it makes the really dramatic moment in his storyline work all the more, and I'm not gonna lie, I was crying hard when his story comes to a climax. And he actually has an incredibly small part in this movie! That's how great his character was written and that's how great of an actor he is. It's just fun seeing him in such different roles every time I see him. In this he's just a locksmith who grew up in a bad neighborhood but is trying to do right by his daughter. In Shooter, he was an FBI agent, in Ant-man he was the comic relief. The man is incredibly talented and he was hands down the best part of this film. Like this movie is pretty much worth the price of admission just for Michael Pena, I kind of wish this movie had been all about him.

A couple other performances worth mentioning are that of Terrance Howard and Ludacris. Ryan Phillippe has a really good exchange with Terrance Howard and I really enjoyed that. Overall, I can't say there was anybody really bad in this film. I would say the biggest problem with this film is that it's trying to be big because the issue they're discussing is big and yet if it's not personal like it is for Michael Pena's character, it doesn't have the impact I think it needs to.

You could probably make a movie out of each one of these characters and they'd be pretty powerful movies about race and prejudice. In fact I would watch almost all of these movies. Don Cheadle's could be a detective drama with a racial twist. Michael Pena's could be a story of pulling yourself out of a bad situation but dealing with the cultural norms that are put upon you and the environment you grow up in (I really liked Michael Pena in this movie). Sandra Bullock could be all about white privilege and how that's a thing she eventually acknowledges.

Now Crash overall definitely has some great things about it. It does have a pretty poignant message about prejudice and how it exists across the board, no matter your race, gender, or social status. Like I've said, it has great performances and a couple really strong moments. But the message is too on the nose, too simplistic creating a hyperbolic world where racism is way too overt and really just for the sake of making a social commentary. Racism does exist, prejudice does exist, but Crash makes it way too over the top and I think the message is a little bit overstated, not really making the point it was supposed to make.

But what do you think? Do you agree? Do you think Crash's message is on point? Let me know! Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. The last movie I have on my list that is talking a lot about race is Fruitvale Station. Here's the trailer.