It's December 31, 1922 in Rosewood, Florida. The town is a mix of black and white with racial tension buried underneath. Mann (Ving Rhames) is a WWI vet newcomer who intends to outbid John Wright (Jon Voight) for a farm. The new year brings the racial tension boiling to the surface after a mixed race affair turns ugly as Fanny Taylor accuses the black man. Sheriff Walker (Michael Rooker) leads a lynch mob. Local Sylvester Carrier (Don Cheadle) refuses to be run off by the mounting threats. Duke Purdy (Bruce McGill) is the racist leading the charge.
Wright and Walker are the intriguing roles. I like the varied reactions of the whites. Fanny goes into bad melodrama territories. This is an intriguing telling of the true story. Some of it is terribly harrowing. Some of it goes too far, mostly Mann. He's a superhero. This may work better without him or a different version of him. As it stands, Singleton is doing what Tarantino would eventually be doing and that's a different animal all together. Cheadle is perfectly tuned by comparison. Overall, there is greatness here. It could be more cartoonish and turn into a revenge Tarantino epic. It could also turn into the darker realism of that true story. There is room to improve either way.
Wright and Walker are the intriguing roles. I like the varied reactions of the whites. Fanny goes into bad melodrama territories. This is an intriguing telling of the true story. Some of it is terribly harrowing. Some of it goes too far, mostly Mann. He's a superhero. This may work better without him or a different version of him. As it stands, Singleton is doing what Tarantino would eventually be doing and that's a different animal all together. Cheadle is perfectly tuned by comparison. Overall, there is greatness here. It could be more cartoonish and turn into a revenge Tarantino epic. It could also turn into the darker realism of that true story. There is room to improve either way.