‘I have to get to my family...’
Will Smith recovered from critical and commercial failures to receive the Best Actor statuette at last year’s Oscar ceremony. He then promptly destroyed his reputation by slapping Chris Rock on live television. Seemingly, Smith picked a safe bet in this slavery drama Emancipation. Shot in arty monochrome by Training Day director Antoine Fuqua and featuring lofty subject matter, this film could have put Smith back in the Oscar picture. Alas…
Against the backdrop of the American Civil War, Peter (Smith) attempts to liberate himself from the shackles of slavery. Along the way, he will encounter a wild pack of dogs, prejudice from all sides and an alligator.
Emancipation is thin in terms of plotting, despite taking an age to reach its inevitable conclusion. Smith endures indignity after indignity, to the point where Fuqua’s film starts to resemble something from the Saw franchise rather than prestige Oscar bait. This is a film utterly devoid of colour, both literally and metaphorically. The whole thing is incredibly bleak, and while a film about slavery is never going to be a barrel of laughs, there is no light or warmth in this movie either. Smith does a decent job with the sparse and uninspiring dialogue he is given (the script is credited to Bill Collage whose previous projects include such stinkers as Assassins Creed and Exodus: Gods and Kings), but in the end, his performance is as lifeless as the rest of the film.
I wanted Emancipation to be a success for the subject matter and for big Will, but this is a bad film. There is simply no getting away from it. Don’t waste your time.