2020 Directed by Steve McQueen
Spotlights the true story of Leroy Logan, who at a young age saw his father assaulted by two policemen, motivating him to join the Metropolitan Police and change their racist attitudes from within. Part of Steve McQueen's Small Axe series of films.
“i wanna join the force.”
“what? you gonna be a jedi or something?”
JOHN BOYEGA IS THE MOMENT
I love how the police is consistently useless in the anthology, but one thing that made me not like this as much as I wanted to is the hopefulness in changing a system that is already rotten inside. The Star Wars nod was incredibly witty though, not going to lie.
There is a tendency in a lot of historical films about racism, including McQueen's own 12 Years a Slave, to inadvertently place their horrors as issues firmly of the past, films that intend to illuminate buried atrocities that can leave an audience glibly grateful that things "aren't that bad anymore." What's so genius about this film is that it feels like 2/3 or maybe even just half of a usual narrative, ending on a note that not only denies the catharsis of the real Logan's eventual rise to the position of superintendent of the Met, it actively suggests that Logan's desire for reform and a nonviolent, nonracist police is not merely doomed but fundamentally impossible. Boyega, fresh off of candid…
2020 Releases Ranked-HERE
The third part of Steven McQueen's Small Axe anthology, Red, White and Blue is utterly mesmerising. Directed by Steve McQueen and starring John Boyega, Steve Toussaint, Antonia Thomas, Neil Maskell and Tyrone Huntley, it follows the true story of Leroy Logan (played by John Boyega), a young forensic scientist who quits his job to become a police officer after seeing the aftermath of what they did to his father.
While this entry in the series isn't as sensual and evocative as "Lovers Rock" or as impactful as "Mangrove", for me it comes incredibly close to becoming the best. The film depicts the tricky dynamics Leroy experiences among his superiors, both subtle and unsubtle, truly shocking its audience…
The first of the three Small Axe movies I've seen that has felt like an anthology entry rather than a fuller effort--- at least by the high standard that McQueen has set for himself. There's so much potential in the story of a Black man who consciously attempts to change a racist police force from the inside, but the whole thing feels too straightforward and underbaked, despite the persuasiveness of the filmmaking and the performances. (Soundtrack is great again, though. That's been the hallmark of the series so far.)
Ugh, that “Jedi” Star Wars line felt so..... FORCEd 😉
Absolutely loved this one, Steve McQueen can do no wrong.
Considerable amount to say about this and I probably will in within a collected Small Axe piece, since it's amazing to see how these all work together as an anthology - as though the filmic version of a collection of short stories. But for now - it is honestly wonderful to finally see John Boyega give a tremendous performance in a movie that is actually good.
The third film in the Small Axe series takes look into polic corruption and one man’s jurney to make a change. Everyone he loves and everyone who hates him is against his choice of becoming a part of the polic force; he’s alone in this. It’s a simple concept, but done very effectively. John Boyega and Steve Toussaint give career defining performances through the level of emotion they bring onto the screen. While the ending did leave a lot more to be desired, Steve McQueen’s Red, White, and Blue is another great entree in the Small Axe series.
Now retired Metropolitan Police superintendent Leroy Logan serves as the subject of a gripping character portrayal in this superheated third film in Steve McQueen's already distinguished Small Axe series.
John Boyega does the real-life character proud as he undergoes adversities elicited against him in the form of white supremacist colleagues he has to work alongside as well as a system which is discriminating. The position requires him finding inner reserves of courage and resilience as he ambitiously attempts to contribute to expunging racial discrimination from within the police while working within the confines of the institution.
It expands to a large extent into a showcase for Boyega's acting abilities as he becomes assigned to a unit in the Metropolitan Police…
the most straightforward Small Axe Film so far, but I’m glad that this fully commits to the overwhelming futility of trying to correct an institution that is uninterested in change. there’s only one change that happens and that’s the gradual erosion of Leroy’s idealism, more or less a foregone conclusion from the beginning, Boyega is incredible in conveying this whether he’s going loud or quiet.
a less daring film – a biopic, which this isn’t – would have been about the impressiveness of his accomplishments and how the Met is fine now (to be clear, it’s very much not), but McQueen simply assigns them to irrelevance in the face of what is still ongoing, here and elsewhere (there’s not even any end cards to illustrate where we are now). whatever happened after that cut to black, it’s just a drop in the ocean
