Preceded by movies such as Munich and Syriana, this movie is part of that somewhat new genre of action/moral crusade. Where by which there is a altruistic message that imparts on the audience knowledge of a problem in the world but also gives us lots of spectacle (gunfights, action sequences) as not to bore us to death. Entertainment and documentary combined. The idea of which is probably a good one, but the genre is new and has yet to be perfected.
Take for instance this movie. Good yes but not great as it should have been. What do I mean by that? Well take this for instance: If a movie were about a nascar driver named ricky bobby with no intention but to make one chuckle at rednecks how good would it have to be. Hell it could be half-assed and lame brained, doesn't matter as long as we get to make fun of rednecks. On the other hand when we are dealing with serious issues such as civil war in Sierra Leone where atrocities occur and most likely we, the audience, are about to be incredibly depressed and what not, well then this better be one fucking fantastic awesome movie. This movie unfortunately isn't fantastically awesome. It's just good and that's mostly because of principle. Any movie this heavy and not entirely screwed up is never deemed bad.
For instance this movie has action sequences mixed in with informative speeches. Problem is I knew exactly what was going on like I was reading a script. This is the part where they have the chase scene, oh and here is where we learn about conflict diamonds. It just so happens that it's being told to us by a journalist played by Jennifer Connelly. I got the feeling that the charachters in this story already knew what was going on, but they felt the need to explain it so in depth because hey, the audience is listening. It wasn't as smooth as it could of been. But enough of that, let me praise the movie a little bit also.
The best part of this movie is the acting by DiCaprio and Housson. Its very enjoyable seeing them work. DiCaprio because his characters are always so three dimensional and Housson who focuses so much passion within the framework of his charachter. A true heir to Sidney Poitier. This movie is definitely worth the watch whether in the theatre or out of it.
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