I must say that the first half of this movie didn't really do it for me. I know that many people will not understand that, but for me this was yet another movie about a poor, yet smart black kid growing up in a bad neighborhood full of crime and without any opportunities of escaping it. It has been done many times before and I didn't want to see it once more. But than the movie offered a new and more original approach in the second half and from that moment on, it captivated me.
Michael, who goes by the name of Fresh when he is on the street, is a 12-year-old drug pusher, living in a half-way house for children without their parents. Even though he isn't allowed to see him, he regularly meets his father, a man who lives in a trailer and in the park, where he plays chess with him. Despite the fact that he is a smart kid, he will once become a big dealer and the boss of his neighborhood, because there are no opportunities for him outside the ghetto. But when he sees the consequences of it all and is confronted with his sister who works as a prostitute, friends being murdered for no reason,... he decides that drugs isn't the way of life he is looking for. What he wants is revenge and his knowledge of chess will help him getting it.
Despite the fact that there aren't too many known names in it (I only know Samuel L. Jackson and the director, Boaz Yakin), I must say that this is a decent movie. It isn't as perfect as some people try to make you believe, but the story works and especially the second part in which he takes revenge is very original. The acting is OK and it all looks believable. The only problem that I had with this movie was all that macho talk from those 12 year old kids and all their "yo yo yo's". Man, I don't know if they are really like that in the ghettos, but I just wanted to kick them in the butt and tell them to go back to their mama, where they belong, instead of acting like the grown-up which they may never become. But despite that little 'problem' I still consider this a decent movie that sure deserves to be seen. This is a movie that will be loved by all the fans of ghetto/crime movies and I rewarded it with a 7/10.
Michael, who goes by the name of Fresh when he is on the street, is a 12-year-old drug pusher, living in a half-way house for children without their parents. Even though he isn't allowed to see him, he regularly meets his father, a man who lives in a trailer and in the park, where he plays chess with him. Despite the fact that he is a smart kid, he will once become a big dealer and the boss of his neighborhood, because there are no opportunities for him outside the ghetto. But when he sees the consequences of it all and is confronted with his sister who works as a prostitute, friends being murdered for no reason,... he decides that drugs isn't the way of life he is looking for. What he wants is revenge and his knowledge of chess will help him getting it.
Despite the fact that there aren't too many known names in it (I only know Samuel L. Jackson and the director, Boaz Yakin), I must say that this is a decent movie. It isn't as perfect as some people try to make you believe, but the story works and especially the second part in which he takes revenge is very original. The acting is OK and it all looks believable. The only problem that I had with this movie was all that macho talk from those 12 year old kids and all their "yo yo yo's". Man, I don't know if they are really like that in the ghettos, but I just wanted to kick them in the butt and tell them to go back to their mama, where they belong, instead of acting like the grown-up which they may never become. But despite that little 'problem' I still consider this a decent movie that sure deserves to be seen. This is a movie that will be loved by all the fans of ghetto/crime movies and I rewarded it with a 7/10.