Review of Mississippi Burning (1988) by Jonathan S — 04 Mar 2015

I was expecting more from this movie. It should have been suspenseful, but long parts of it dragged. It should have been thought-provoking, but it was predictable. It should have been complex, but it was heavy-handed.

I'll give credit were credit is due: Hackman, Dafoe, and MacDormand play their parts well and there are several nail-biting scenes like the burning of the church, the opening car chase, and a black man dressing up as a klansman so he can kidnap and interrogate a backwards cop.

But sadly, most of the antagonists and side characters are one-dimensional stereotypes, the music blares to let you know when a scene is important, and much of the plot feels repetitive instead of building to a climax.

I've seen a lot of documentaries cover this material better as well as "12 Years a Slave" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." Go check those out.