I picked this movie at random only after bailing on "The Harder They Fall" after about five minutes, when I realized that that movie was going to be nothing but glamorized gun violence for two hours. It was the day after the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, and I really wasn't in the mood for yet another gun fetish movie.
The point is, I came to "7 Prisoners" after I'd already tried and failed to be entertained by something else, and I was in a grumpy mood. So I might not have been in the best frame of mind to watch this grim, harrowing story about forced slave labor in Brazil. I can say that this movie is objectively a good movie, but it felt like homework, like every movie being made right now that isn't a Marvel or James Bond sequel. Where are those middle ground movies, the ones that are serious enough to be enjoyed by adults but also remember that their primary purpose is to be entertaining? I'm a very socially conscious person, sometimes too much so for my mental health, and I don't need a constant parade of movies reminding me of how crappy humanity can be. I also want to have fun, but fun, at least intelligent fun, is in short supply in movies right now. Have Covid and Republicans killed all the joy in the world?
Grade: B+
The point is, I came to "7 Prisoners" after I'd already tried and failed to be entertained by something else, and I was in a grumpy mood. So I might not have been in the best frame of mind to watch this grim, harrowing story about forced slave labor in Brazil. I can say that this movie is objectively a good movie, but it felt like homework, like every movie being made right now that isn't a Marvel or James Bond sequel. Where are those middle ground movies, the ones that are serious enough to be enjoyed by adults but also remember that their primary purpose is to be entertaining? I'm a very socially conscious person, sometimes too much so for my mental health, and I don't need a constant parade of movies reminding me of how crappy humanity can be. I also want to have fun, but fun, at least intelligent fun, is in short supply in movies right now. Have Covid and Republicans killed all the joy in the world?
Grade: B+