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Ghost Canyon

'Freedomland'
(Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, et al / DVD / R / 2006 / Sony Pictures)

Overview: There are an abundance of outstanding performances in the dramatic thriller 'Freedomland', with leads Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore leading the way for a string of strong actors. 'Freedomland' is based on a dense novel by the talented and highly acclaimed writer Richard Price (who adapted the screenplay); the setting is a fictional town in Northern New Jersey and the low-income housing complex at its heart. As a housing project cop who's respected for keeping the peace and being fair with the residents, Lorenzo Council (Jackson) stumbles onto the case of an apparent carjacking and child abduction one night that throws the projects into turmoil.

DVD Verdict: In truth, 'Freedomland' starts out well enough. We meet Samual Jackson, a tough-talking but secretly sensitive cop who seems to be personally responsible for all police work done in a poor project. He knows everyone personally in this run-down complex, and they know him and expect him to look out for them. He's called to interview a dazed and bloodied woman who has wandered into the local hospital, apparently the victim of a carjacking. The woman, played by Julianne Moore, is clearly in shock, and it takes awhile for her to reveal (or remember)that her 4-year-old son was asleep in the backseat when the car was taken. Jackson mobilizes the police, and then it turns out that Moore's brother (Ron Ellard) is a cop from another district, who decides he wants to run the investigation his way, by totalling shutting off the black projects from the rest of the world, essentially putting its residents into house arrest. Unrest begins to foment. That's enough of a set-up for a tense movie right there, but it gets clumsy and confused from there. We think we're watching a thriller ... but it isn't really. We think confrontation is coming between Ellard and Jackson, but the brother's character almost totally disappears from the movie. Instead, as Jackson becomes more suspicious of Moore's story it becomes a rumination of sorts on the plight of missing children. Edie Falco is introduced as the leader of a group of "concerned parents" who dedicate themselves to finding missing kids. Based on the novel by Richard Price, 'Freedomland' takes you further than even that but is particularly disappointing. Mainly because it was scripted by Price, a gifted storyteller who adapts his own novel here. Sadly, the screenplay is beset by tough-to-swallow contrivances. One doubts that even New Jersey's most incompetent police department would allow a detective to whisk a crime victim through a housing project on the verge of a full-scale riot and continually let her wander off by herself. 'Freedomland' is packed with people whose behavior seems more driven by a hackneyed screenplay than by recognizable characterizations. Frankly, I was just tired of the whole thing before the end credits rolled. It felt like it should have left the viewer moved and thoughtful ... but I was left totally cold, and my gauge of my fellow audience members in the room led me to believe most of them felt the same way. As for Special Features, well ... do Previews count as 'special"?! If so, you're in luck: 'Click,' 'Friends with Money,' 'Underworld: Evolution,' 'Little Man,' 'Marie Antoinette,' 'Basic Instinct 2,' 'The Boondocks,' 'The Forgotten,' 'The Missing' and 'S.W.A.T.' This is both a Widescreen Presentation (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and a Full Screen Version (1.33:1) and comes with the Special Features of just Subtitles in both English and French.

www.SonyPictures.com

www.MGM.com/DVD





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