Emancipation

critic Reviews

, 45% Rotten Tomatometer Score
  • Emancipation works as an action movie -- albeit one that's uncomfortably at odds with its awkward handling of the real-life events that inspired its stirring story.
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    Soraya Nadia McDonaldAndscape
    The hollow Emancipation is a mismatch between director and subject.
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    Richard LawsonVanity Fair
    Fuqua’s chosen technique only undermines his solemn intentions, rather than using starkness to make a salient point. Emancipation is overthought to its increasing detriment.
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    Brian LowryCNN.com
    There’s a pronounced Hollywood-ized feel to the finished product, one that doesn’t compare favorably with other projects that have covered similar territory.
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    Wendy IdeObserver (UK)
    The storytelling is propulsive, but it’s cheapened by crude and manipulative film-making choices.
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    Wenlei MaNews.com.au
    Emancipation is a relentlessly grim, unnecessarily stylised and frequently monotonous film.
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    Shirley LiThe Atlantic
    A movie that's part prestige drama, part survival thriller, part war epic -- and all confused. The film's mishmashing of these genres is careless.
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    Jackson WeaverCBC News
    [A]s an action, [Emancipation is] not half-bad... But looking at it in the context of a somehow burgeoning field of slave narratives, the lack of nuance feels not only lazy but exploitative.
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    Zach PopeZach Pope Reviews
    Emancipation strives to be the strong surprise of the year but doesn’t fully come together. Smith? Excellent might even be his best performance! Powerful imagery, great cinematography, but a one note story that I found to lack depth
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  • , Fresh Tomatometer Score
    Mike ScottTimes-Picayune
    Its release was overshadowed by that Oscars slap , and that’s a shame. Those who fixated on the buzz rather than on the film missed out on a terrific and engaging bit of cinema that is arguably Fuqua’s most fully realized film since “Training Day.”
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  • , Rotten Tomatometer Score
    Martin CarrWe Got This Covered
    This visually stunning film from director Antoine Fuqua suffers from a weak script, poor characterization, and an overly earnest approach to the subject matter. For something so important, a sense of substance seems in short supply.
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