Review of Fruitvale Station (2013) by Private U — 03 Jan 2014

I'm sure the intentions were good to show how random acts of violence can affect anyone at anytime, but Fruitvale is just not a very good movie, despite the horrific event it portrays. Mostly because it turns the main character into an average everyday regular Joe into overbearing likeable material, without focusing on the complexity of the character or by trying to explore the other side of the event. It's overly simplistic. I'd love to see a Fruitvale part 2 exploring that small unit of cops and their daily routines as well, just to get a different perspective. Not just a badly approached "holy crap, here come the dirty angry mean cops that are gonna wreck shit up" that Fruitvale Station did. It was almost cartoonish and such a complex and painful event deserved much more.

All in all, has it's moments, specially the quite ones, the cast is adequate (I didn't lost my shit with Michael Jordan as everyone else seems to have) and it's shot with conviction, aided by a pretty good and moody soundtrack.