A grand concept integrating social commentary and entertainment can come out of a person's imagination but with a wild ambition and a huge creative risk. I think Jordan Peele, who is viewed as a comedian, came out with one of the most original concepts regarding social commentary and mixing it up with horror and a bit of dark comedy with Get Out. I thought that movie worked with wonders and was one of the best movies of 2017 and potentially one of the best movies of the decade. Here we have another wild and crazy vision that is so unique and original that after I saw the trailer, I was looking forward to watching the movie. But, after walking out of the movie, I was in a rare state that I cannot describe how I felt and took a long while to figure out what I want to say. I was silent beyond comprehension because there were moments of brilliance of comedy and social commentary in the first half and then there were moments of bizarre ideas full of social commentary and weird horror in the second half that it did not fully coalesce as a total package as a movie.
Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakieth Stanfield) lands a telemarketing job at RegalView after using his buddy, Salvador (Jermaine Fowler), as a reference but he is working there too. But, the interview saw Cash's potential. His interview, Anderson (Robert Longstreet), sees his ambitions and gives him a script that he will be using. Cash lives in his uncle Sergio's (Terry Crews) house in his garage with his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), broke and unlucky. Sergio also demands rent from Cash since he is four months late on his rent, because Sergio may potentially sell his house.
Cash starts working at his telemarketing job, experiencing lack of confidence in delivering his script after customers hang up on him. Langston (Danny Glover), the older caller sitting next to him, tells Cash that he can get more clients by using his "white voice" as Langston demonstrates it himself with his white voice (voiced by Steve Buscemi). After a meeting about asking the question of getting raises, a fellow co-worker named Squeeze (Steven Yeun) notices Cash and is invited for drinks with him, Detroit and Salvador. However, RegalView's top client, WorryFree, is getting criticized for slave labor with their employees to cut their back costs and a leftist group called Left Eye rallies against them. As Cash makes more money, he and his friends start to separate as they disagree with his motivations to start making more money and building success but for the wrong reasons.
First off, I think it is a terrific first half as the movie tackles with themes of slave labor, a social commentary and greed but with a mix of satire that it seemed to take off but the arc became a bit predictable as he abandons his friends, who protests against the slave labor of the particular client that works with the telemarketing comedy. But, there was so much good in the director's, Boots Riley's, vision that I start going with it because the satirical originality was soaring with such audacity that it does never look back. But, then, the second half of the movie starts to lose its plot and satire that it become riddled with more of its ideas that it seemed to fit more into a horror satire than a social satire. Let me clarify, it felt like Dr. Strangelove mixed with The Lobster, Get Out, Night of the Living Dead and episodes of The Twilight Zone and did not fit with me. The passion, humor and most of its plot was gone and I did not find it as scathingly hilarious as I thought.
One element of the movie is great are the performances. Lakeith Stanfield makes a name for himself as evokes a man with such sorrow that he seems to give up but once you feel his pain, you can feel his rejuvenation of taking an advantage for himself that is quite bold. Tessa Thompson is on a roll with her work, even though I felt not much character background in Annihilation, she gave a very solid performance. Steven Yeun from the Walking Dead fame is terrific. Armie Hammer, in a supporting role, is quite maniacal and quietly intimidating that it is such a distinctive role from his other movies in his filmography. He is quite good here.
There is passion and style in Boots Riley's debut film here as his plot kicks in with such bold substance, commentary and subtle amusement. I have to admire his uniqueness in the characters, direction and plot in his movie here, I really do. But, he lets it all go in this second half or final 30 minutes that I was confused as to whether I would want to laugh or not. I understood what he was doing with the angle that he was going with but it felt like another grand idea that did not fit in with other grand idea and it almost ruined my experience with the movie. It disappointed me more that it was riddled with ideas and concepts and not much stake with the original unique plot. It is more irrelevant, stylistic and unique ideas than blending the ideas into the plot to pack a punch and to make me think that it is potentially bold movie. Half of this movie is sort of brilliant and half of this movie is sort of too wacky and too idealistic to integrate into the plot. I don't recommend seeing it in the theater but it is more of a rental to see what Boots Riley is giving us now and hopefully for the future. I hope his next movie can have the same fresh flavor but with more harmony.
**1/2
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