Crash (2005)

Every now and again I feel the need to watch a movie that's traditionally good (i.e. accepted by most fellow critics as good).  My recent viewing of Crash was one of those times.   Crash is the latest film from Paul Haggis, known mostly for directing Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.  This time, he tackles the touchy subject of racism in post 9/11 America. 

The story itself is a collection of several people's smaller stories, and how they interact over the course of two days in Los Angeles.  We have the District Attorney and his wife, played by Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock, who get carjacked by Larenz Tate (A Man Apart) and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges' characters.  Then there's the African American television producer played by Terrence Howard (Hustle And Flow, Four Brothers) and his wife played by Thandie Newton (The Chronicles Of Riddick) who get pulled over by racist cop Matt Dillion and his non-racist partner played by Ryan Phillipe.   

Also there's the story of a cop played by Don Cheadle looking into the shooting of a black officer by a white one, and a story of a Mexican locksmith played by Michael Pena and his daughter rounding out the stories that make up the plot of the film.   To those wondering why I mention the actors and not the character names, it's because this movie doesn't really go into the character names, they mention the name of the character once, but mostly the characters are just like I describe them, the racist cop, the District Attorney's wife, more like archetypes rather then characters in my opinion.

I will say the movie is technically well done.  The editing by Hugh Winborne deftly strings together the scenes and stories together.  And the cast all around gives great performances, most notably Sandra Bullock as a character whose racist beliefs allow the actress to put forth a dark performance of depth we've never seen from her in the past.   Chris Bridges is among the new breed of hip hop actors that actually can act, and he does a great job with his carjacker role.  Those two in my opinion are the stand outs performances of the movie.

The score by Mark Isham is a nice little gem in the film, though the inclusion of an Enya-like song during a few key moments which seems to be the theme of the movie feels a bit out of place for me and took me out of the movie each time it was used.

I did enjoy the movie, but in the same token, I have some issues with the movie as well.  First and foremost of them is the concept of the movie itself, which is that racism is still everywhere in the country, and that everyone's a little bit racist.  At least that's what the movie would have you believe.  I'm not saying we live in a utopian society, but I disagree with the defeatist tone in the film's message.  I'm also aware that part of the intention of the picture is to get people angry and have discussions and debates about the subject, but to me the whole film comes off a bit pretentious under that light.     

Another issue I have with the film is Terrence Howard's breakdown when he gets carjacked.  The reaction feels out of character from what we've seen thus far of his role and I just could not appreciate the impact of the scene.   Also, I absolutely despised the whole "I learned something today" air that most of the stories wrapped up with, as though their experiences were part of some TV sitcom.   In addition to that, it seems as though the stories only really have anything to do with one another in passing, other than the underlying theme of racism.  It is as though Paul Haggis had an idea for a movie, but his tale was too short so he threw in a few random story arcs to bring the movie to feature length.

Final

I enjoyed Crash, even with the issues I had with it.  It's not going to make my top ten list this year, even though I'm sure it'll be on a lot of other critics.  I thought the movie was pretentious, disjointed, and lacking in regards to characters you care about, but overall the film is worth seeing at least once.  So, till next time, be sure to keep it reel.