Blue Caprice

In 2002, the Washington DC area was paralyzed by sniper shootings. John Allen Muhammad (Isaiah Washington) was in a relationship with Lee Boyd Malvo (Tequan Richmond)'s mother and became his father figure. John brings Lee with him to America and indoctrinates him. John is bitter at the being declared unfit to be a father. He is angry and paranoid. He convinces Lee to murder and turns the blue Chevy Caprice into a killing machine. He discovers his wife and children hiding in Maryland, but it's about more than them by then. It's a slow meditative movie. It spends most of its time with the quiet young Lee under the unceasing domination of John. It spends little time with the DC killings. It's not altogether successful. There is no tension and it provides no great insights into either personality. It's the first full-length feature for Alexandre Moors and he shows a competence with the camera. However the movie is too slow and too quiet. I'm not sure he achieves anything more than an artsy film about two of the most enigmatic mass murderers.

Admittedly going in with very little knowledge of the actual events behind the true story which "Blue Caprice" is based on (the Beltway sniper attacks) other than the fact that two men (one was a minor) had engaged in a series of public shootings on the east coast, during a span of three weeks in October 2002, the most intriguing aspect of this film is how its focus is not on the shootings themselves, but the relationship between the two killers, Lee Malvo and John Muhammad. Synopsis: After being pretty much abandoned, a sixteen year old Caribbean boy named Lee, played by Tequan Richmond (who is also the best thing to come out of that crappy "Everybody Hates Chris" show) seeks guidance from an American man named John (played by Isaiah Washington, who gives the performance of his life). The boy becomes absolutely mesmerized with his new found father figure, even though John is an openly abusive man, who is mentally unstable and holds an unhealthy disdain for the world around him. Quickly transforming into a cult leader-type, John begins to brainwash this damaged child, as "Blue Caprice" careens towards a cold blooded final 20 minutes. While John Muhammad is painted as the monster he truly is, with the way I have described the plight of Lee Malvo, his sixteen year old accomplice, I realize that there are readers who will be turned off simply because I do make it sound as though director Alexandre Moors shines a sympathetic light on a killer of innocent people. Now, is "Blue Caprice" meant to give a sympathetic portrayal of Lee Malvo? The answer is, yes. BUT (and this is my opinion, of course) even though Malvo did engage in heinous acts and I do sympathize with the victims of these shootings, if it really went down the way this movie depicts, then maybe audiences are right to feel sympathy for this kid. Final Thought: Whilst not as emotionally impactful as I would have liked it to be, "Blue Caprice" still packs a punch as a highly interesting dissection of a mutated father/son relationship, due to a combination of haunting performances from the two leads and some intriguing camera-work. So, between this and "Fruitvale Station", it has been a good few months for feature film directorial debuts. Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland

This movie doesn't add anything, but it comes as a real bore! what they were thinking!, I have never thought much of Isaiah Washington as an actor, I could care less about his participation on every movie I have seen him before, and watching Tequan Richmond is like watching green paint dry, don't ask, but I think green paint is the most pathetic paint to watch while drying. This movie is a really missed opportunity, the question is if the writer and producers Just said " Hey lets do an insipid, bland, characterless, and unmoving piece of nothing, "uninspired" on the beltway Sniper" the movie is not even all over the place, because has nothing to offer, it's a shameless situation that blue caprice get a 6.0 rating when "D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear" is just 5.8 Yesterday, I re - watched Bus 174 (2002) (documentary) and then "Last Stop 174 (2008)", I mention this just in case Alexandre Moors, R.F.I. Porto and everyone involved with blue caprice wants to see how a real movie based in actual events is made!

"Blue Caprice" was out of cinematic fuel from the beginning. This indie movie is based on the Sniper incident that rocked the Beltway in Virginia & Washington in 2002. Speaking of Washington, Isaiah Washington's performance as John, the angry father figure sniper, was off target; and Tequan Richmond did not add much firepower either as Lee, the lost teen who gives himself entirely to John, and becomes John's surrogate son. Director Alexandre Moors focused on the father- son relationship of John & Lee, but I wanted more from Moors on the insight of the Beltway sniper killings and how it affected the fabric of society. "Blue Caprice" was not a true blue picture! Sorry Madonna! * Failure

Arguably Isaiah Washington's best work. Thought provoking and on point. Everyone touched by violence should see this film to see how murderers are made. This film is not meant to be sympathetic to the killers but rather to start a dialog on how killers are made and what we can do to help people understand. It also highlights the issue of mental illness in our society and how we don't do enough, especially for our vets to address this problem. The director and cinematography should be applauded for this effort. Some of the best camera work I've seen in years coupled with an excellent script and vision by the director. For those who are looking for a sympathetic view for the victims, this is not that film. Yes, we should never forget the victims of these horrific crimes, but that's not what this film is about. It's about reaching those people who don't understand that sometimes killers are products of their circumstances and/or environment. A must see.

The film begins where our two beltway killers meet and slowly become one in their hate and lust for murder. It is entirely speculative in its dialogue and development. The one thing I liked is that it was not acted like some Charlie Manson crazed mass killer. Nevertheless, the characters never really reach a believable characterization of the type of anti social personality disorder that makes it possible to behave in such a way. I would suppose that it would be hard for such a young writer to lose himself in such a mind as that. The editing of this film is laughable and there really is no rhythm to the cutting, it jumps around which makes me think that the director was not experienced enough to get enough coverage. There is a lot of running through the forests, proclamations about why people are no good, but none of which have any impact or gives the feeling of menace. In fact, menace is lacking in every part of this film. Any thought that there would be a payoff for the time spent watching this movie is lost with a uninteresting and boring final scene that could have been cut from the film without any consequence. I say skip this one...

source: Blue Caprice

For the story line the film has, its very badly written, directed and acted. Were talking about a movie trying to show the manipulation of a young mind and a killer out for revenge on any random person just for the hell of it. Someone who wants people to suffer as a consequence of his situation. Not at any point in the film do we see a big transformation in the character, we don't really see a manipulation phase or an insight into the mind of the killer. Its not gripping, its not mind blowing , it doesn't have any emotion. The killings themselves are poorly shot, they aren't gruesome, in fact we don't even see most of them and we never feel sorry for the character who dies, we don't get offered a clip of them before their death to give us any sympathy for them, there's just no feeling, emotion or tension in the film. I was expecting at least some tension during the murders, like close calls, cold hearted comments but there's nothing. The scene where they get caught at the end is also worthless again with no tension and then we see them locked up and it ends, its a poor film. The story was there for them, all they had to do was add some tension, emotion and create a dark , overwhelming manipulating character . We don't get any of that, this film was a disaster.

"It could be anybody. Anybody could have done it and if it could be anybody then we're invisible." Lee (Richmond) is a young boy who is lost in the world with no real direction or family. John (Washington) finds him and begins to talk to him about the problems in his world. After describing the wrongs that have been done to him Lee decides to help by killing an innocent woman. After "getting away with it" John decides to up the stakes in order to cause chaos. The two begin their random killing spree. We know these two as the 2002 Washington D.C. Beltway snipers. This is a good movie but very disturbing. Not disturbing in a horror movie way but in a more realistic way. We see how easy Lee was manipulated by John and how neither of them seemed to show any remorse for their actions. The most disturbing thing to me about this though is that the killings seemed absolutely senseless. Targets were picked based solely on if they could be seen through the hole in the trunk. This is a hard movie to watch because of the subject matter but if you can handle it it is worth seeing. Overall, disturbing character study that doesn't do anything to glorify or make you feel sorry for the murderers, which is a good thing. I give it a B+

The film begins where our two beltway killers meet and slowly become one in their hate and lust for murder. It is entirely speculative in its dialogue and development. The one thing I liked is that it was not acted like some Charlie Manson crazed mass killer. Nevertheless, the characters never really reach a believable characterization of the type of anti social personality disorder that makes it possible to behave in such a way. I would suppose that it would be hard for such a young writer to lose himself in such a mind as that. The editing of this film is laughable and there really is no rhythm to the cutting, it jumps around which makes me think that the director was not experienced enough to get enough coverage. There is a lot of running through the forests, proclamations about why people are no good, but none of which have any impact or gives the feeling of menace. In fact, menace is lacking in every part of this film. Any thought that there would be a payoff for the time spent watching this movie is lost with a uninteresting and boring final scene that could have been cut from the film without any consequence. I say skip this one...