Blood Diamond – Review

Reviews


Image courtesy of www.impawards.com

Director :

Edward Zwick

Cast :

Leonardo DiCaprio”¦”¦”¦.Danny Archer
Jennifer Connelly “¦”¦”¦.Maddy Bowen
Djimon Hounsou……….Solomon Vandy

Leonardo DiCaprio has had perhaps the most interesting rise to the top of the acting pyramid than most of the other great actors on top of their profession. Starting out as the character that has been linked to the downfall of Growing Pains, he has fashioned a rather unorthodox way to the top. Bypassing the usual sorts of roles many actors take in their late teens and 20s, bland roles in teen comedies and the likes that would be considered both safe and profitable, DiCaprio has fashioned an acting resume filled with more hits than misses going into his early 30s by tackling serious dramatic roles for the good majority of his career. Considering he’s viewed as the heir apparent to Robert De Niro as the muse of Martin Scorsese, DiCaprio seems poised to follow in the path of one of history’s great actors by virtue of his ability to take good roles in high profile films on a consistent basis. This year alone has seen him turn in a tremendous performance in Scorsese’s latest opus, The Departed, DiCaprio takes a break from serious drama with the action thriller Blood Diamond.

DiCaprio stars as Danny Archer, a self-described “soldier of fortune” who has made a living smuggling diamonds in Africa. Wandering a bit off the beaten path, Archer finds himself imprisoned for smuggling diamonds in some farm animals when he encounters Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou). Vandy has found a rare diamond and has buried it somewhere unknown to everyone but him. With his family missing and his son kidnapped by local Rebel forces, he has to team up with the Englishman and an American reporter (Jennifer Connelly) to try and make it out of the country alive and with the diamond.

The best comparison for Blood Diamond would be to a film De Niro starred in, Ronin. While obviously receiving more publicity and a larger release than the De Niro led action film, it shares plenty in common with the film. Both are taut thrillers, able to balance some top-notch action with a quickly moving plot, and both benefit by some quality character development by omission.

Edward Zwick wisely takes the film from a more character-led film to a more story-based one. The film is a character drama, but it doesn’t spend too much time trying to develop the characters with either expansive back-story developing moments or flashbacks. Zwick sets up moments in the film where his actors use non-verbal cues that develop their characters. Quiet moments like Archer and Bowen sitting around, drinking bad wine, do more to flesh out their characters than more traditional ones that would bog the film down.

And that’s one of the key things about the film: it’s slick and pared down, for the most part. There isn’t anything extraneous or irrelevant to the plot. Zwick has a sleek thriller, avoiding anything that would keep the film’s fast pace and timing from slowing down. While he does sneak in some shots of the African landscape with some wide angles and interesting camera movements, for the most part his ability to set up each key action sequence is what keeps the film moving. Each sequence is bigger than the next, culminating with a fantastic final sequence, and Zwick uses a multitude of camera angles to give all sides of the action a proper showing. It gives the film a gritty feel to it, adding to the film’s realistic fight scenes and adding another level of intensity to the proceedings.

It doesn’t hurt that his leading man, DiCaprio, gives a much more intense performance than he’s known for. This is a role that’s more physical than most of what he’s done and DiCaprio is obviously game for it. His movements in the film give him the sort of credibility the role requires; he’s a trained killer who can and will do what he has to in order to get the job done, up to and including killing people without a hint of remorse or mercy. He doesn’t move like an action star at any point in the film, instead he moves like the former decorated soldier his character is. DiCaprio handles weaponry like a professional and does the little things a trained killer would do in similar situations.

This is not an Oscar-caliber performance from DiCaprio, nor is the acting in the film anything more above average across the board, but it doesn’t take away from the story. While the film isn’t an Oscar type of film, it’s most definitely a terrifically done thriller with some jaw-dropping action sequences that make it well worth seeing. While in the scheme of things it’s most likely going to be forgotten in the same way Ronin isn’t the first film that comes up in De Niro’s acting resume, it’s nice to see DiCaprio in a different type of role as opposed to the more dramatic types that he usually plays.

InsidePulse’s Ratings for Blood Diamond
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
STORY

10.0
ACTING

7.0
ORIGINALITY

8.0
LOOK/FEEL

10.0
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE

10.0
OVERALL
9.0