Dead Presidents

Rawlings ft Atta Mills

95/130

Dead Presidents_720p(480P)

source: Dead Presidents

I like movies about crimes and thought this was one of those. Watched formore than an hour and they were still setting up the war aspect. Very boring, very disappointing.

Anthony Curtis is a young black man in America. Unlike his brother he doesn't go to college but instead joins the Marine Corp to fight in Vietnam. He returns having served his country to find that America has no thanks for the many black soldiers who fought on their behalf. The Hughes brothers should be applauded for managing to steer themselves successfully away from ghetto movies (look what happened to John Singleton). This was a small step away (although From Hell was a big leap) and it tries to deal with the black experience around Vietnam. A worthy cause but a flawed one none the less. The plot really just wants to get to the last half hour which is the robbery that is displayed on the posters etc. However before that it makes a lot of good points. The problem is that, because it's dealing with an experience the storyline doesn't always seem strong. This means it is a bit episodic. However these episodes still manage to be pretty good and the Hughes brothers are very good film-makers who can put stuff together well. The robbery is tense and some of the other scenes are very involving. However it still feels like the plot is too loose. The cast helps greatly – and a very famous cast (or at least familiar faces). Larenz Tate is OK but is probably more suited to his more recent romantic leads. Chris Tucker manages not to be totally irritating for once and N'Bushe Wright and Jackson are very good female roles. The cast has a few famous cameos (Washington and Sheen) but also has a host of recognisable faces including Rodriguez, Woodbine, Imperioli (in a small – or is that big! - role) – many are famous black support actors. Overall it doesn't quite hang together as the plot is less a story than a view of the black experience around Vietnam and one of the sense of abandonment that they feel. However the film throws up plenty of good bits despite failing to come together as one piece of work.

Chris Tucker is hilarious in this movie, he has great on screen charisma, and he speaks his lines very fluidly, as if he was improvising. Larenz Tate is great as well, being able to pull off the young version of his character, since he has a boyish face. And Bokeem Woodbine reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson in this movie. The cinematography is also great and so is the acting overall. Like everyone says, its not so much as a heist movie, but a reflection on the hardships of the black individual, such as finding work and drug abuse; after fighting a war that wasnt really meant for them or their country.

I think my disappointment for this film is based partially on the hype of a well known UK film journalist who talked of this as a 'must see movie.' So expectations were high but when the credits rolled on at the end I wondered what on earth was so special about the film. The plot was predictable and with so many short scenes there was little time for atmosphere which left the funk and soul heavy sound track to work overtime. I would align this film with Forest Gump in its attempts to show a young man growing up. Weaving adolescence, romance, violence and adventure into the story. This is the most slight reference since the two films qualities are markedly different. Not a single character in Dead Presidents incites any reaction from the audience. The scripts plausibility is questionable in many places, chasms of time are treated as though they have been emotionally filled in. Characters act out their two dimensional emotions towards these situations to move seamlessly onwards. If you feel sympathy for the lead character to begin with once it is revealed he comes from a loving supportive family this is quashed. I don't think you can identify with a character who throws away so much due to arrogance and selfish pride. So if this is the case what where the directors trying to say about this mans life? Nothing in the film allowed us to be enlightened. I wouldn't recommend this film but then I like films which have a depth and are written in a more considered way.

Albert and Allen Hughes direct, produce and co-write (with Michael Henry Brown) this tale about Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), a South Bronx boy who goes off to fight in Vietnam, to then return after his tours of duty to find things just aren't the same anymore. The follow up to their incendiary debut, Menace II Society, the Hughes brothers deliver another in your face picture that is quite frankly on a perpetual downer. This is no bad thing, though, as long as you are not looking to be cheered up. That's Uncle Sam for you! Mean Green. The pic very much harks back to the glory days of film noir in the 40s and 50s, where some talented film makers began to tell stories of returning war veterans finding what they left behind is now alien to them - with some characters, as is the case here - deeply scarred by their experiences. Add in some gangster elements and the coup de grâce that is the scintillating heist, and clearly the brothers have seen many an old classic film. That the narrative is tried and tested stops the piece hitting greater heights, this in spite of some super acting (especially Tate and the always value for money Keith David) and the hard hitting violence that pierces the senses. Predictable yet potent, and certainly memorable, it's well worth a look for the tough of mind and the classic era film of heart. 7/10

I thought I had seen one of the most intense horror films ever when I saw the Hughes Brothers' debut "Menace II Society" (yes, I do mean 'horror' in the figurative sense). Then I saw "Dead Presidents," and I saw they took it up a notch. This film is set in Harlem in the mid 60's, a young man named Anthony Curtis, who's unsure of what to do with this life after high school and is not really interested in the usual route of college. He decides to enlist in the Marine Corps and no doubt ends up in Vietnam, in a special armed forces unit. Although he makes it out alive unscratched after four years of service, he returns home to find himself, his Marine buddies and their families - including his own new growing family - ravaged physically, emotionally, psychologically and economically by the war. When things seem to really go bleak, Anthony and his friends decide to rob an armored bank truck to get themselves back on track. "Dead Presidents" confirms the suspicions that were aroused by "Menace" that the Hughes Brothers are without question going to become master filmmakers. There is an obvious graduation in their skills here, look at the brilliant way they segue into Vietnam by showing Anthony hop over backyard fences with dogs barking in the background that suddenly fade into shotgun blasts and officer commands, then with one pass over another fence Anthony is suddenly is Vietnam blasting his shotgun. Be warned, the Vietnam sequence in the film contains the most grotesque war scenes ever filmed (much more brief in length than "Saving Private Ryan" but just as intense). Larenz Tate gives a strong performance as a man with a do-good heart but a warped mind that's been tarnished by war. Keith David is also skilled as Kirby, the neighborhood elder who serves as Anthony's mentor. N'Bushe Wright is miscast as a Black militant activist who entices Anthony towards the heist, she's a really bad actress and the Hughes Brothers were smart for cutting her screen time. "Dead Presidents" speaks volume about Black Americans' involvement in Vietnam and the consequences they suffered for doing so. Not a happy film, but an honest and skillful one.