Hate Crime
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Movie Reviews of Hate Crime
Movie Review: hate can be a stronge revenge
Summary: 5 Stars
this movie shows what can happen when a crime of hate can force you to find out the truth even if it means murderMovie Review: Love, Intolerance, Justice
Summary: 4 Stars
Tommy Stovall makes a stunning debut as a writer and director for the very insightful, sensitive, and courageous film HATE CRIME. It is difficult to believe that this is his first attempt at cinematic communication, the film just works that well.
Robbie Levinson (Seth Peterson) and Trey McCoy (Brian J. Smith) have been in a successful relationship for six years, complete with home, cute and devoted dog, supportive parents and siblings, and especially funky supportive neighbor Kathleen Slansky (a major turn for veteran character actress Lin Shaye). They are approaching their commitment ceremony and even talking about adopting children when the sky darkens with the moving in of next door neighbor Chris Boyd (Chad Donella), a stormy right wing bible-thumping homophobe who catches a glimpse of Robbie's and Trey's affection. When Trey is walking their dog in the park one evening he is beaten severely with a baseball bat: the obvious suspect is neighbor Chris.
Kathleen warns Robbie that justice will never be achieved in the hands of the law and sets of a sense of revenge in Robbie's mind. Trey lies in a coma in the hospital while his mother (a superb Cindy Pickett) is shaken not only form her only son's tenuous condition but also from her recovering alcoholic husband's (Sean Hennigan) flat affect and continued lack of communication. A fine young detective Elizabeth Fisher (Farah White) does what she can to attempt to gather the shaky facts of evidence of Chris' guilt, but is thwarted by the entry of Detective Esposito (Giancarlo Esposito) who has homophobic issues of his own.
Chris' father, Pastor Boyd (Bruce Davison) rants from his pulpit that all sinners - especially fornicators - must be punished by God and Chris supports his father's preachings and actions, as does his beautiful bimbo mother Martha (Susan Blakely). As facts are found and everyone surrounding Trey's beating is suspect, the story gathers momentum in the true fashion of the best detective mysteries. Dark secrets appear from every corner and eventually the crime is 'resolved', but not without many surprises as to the perpetrator and the motivation.
The entire cast is excellent from the leading roles to the cameos and Stovall keeps the pace at a breathtaking speed. Yes, there are some gaping holes in the script, giving us the feeling that Stovall had to pare down his story to the 104 minutes it takes. But what he does accomplish is a masterly look at strident right wing religious views of gays while balancing those with compassionate religious views by the more moderate and love-oriented factions. He raises a lot of issues, leaves many concepts unresolved intentionally, and draws performances from his committed cast that rank with the finest. This is a film that SHOULD be viewed by a wide audience. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 07
Movie Review: A thriller that goes right for the throat of hipocracy...
Summary: 4 Stars
There is a very effective scene in "Hate Crime" that conveys one of the problems with religion in general... it is inconsistent. The scene plays out as one pastor preaches to the congregation about Gods love and acceptance of for everyone while another pastor spews the bitter message of Gods hate... simultaneously. It is one of the key factors that makes this movie better than I expected it to be.
This is the story about hatred and how hatred can tear a person's (or people's) world apart. But what this film elevates with its exploration of hate is the hate spread using God and the bible. In fact, the story in some ways resembles a real life Church... run by the Reverand Jerry Fallwell.
I can't say much without ruining the story for those who have not seen it yet, but I can say that the acting was solid across the board (Davidon and Shaye were superbly convincing in their powerful and in some ways, devastating roles) and the story moved at a decent pace. It was a tad predictable but this story is not really intended as a "who-done-it" so much as it is a "Why'd-they-do-it" . The characters that were the primary focus were developed rather intricately and caring for them in their situation was not hard to do. So, for the most part this is a really good movie.
There are only two flaws that I can pinpoint... the believability of some of the situations. Actions went a little over the top and some characters where merely charicatures of the stereotypes you'd expect. The police investigation through out the movie was sloppily developed and at times, the actions of a certain detective seemed a little "off". Also, the editing of the film seemed to resemble a "Lifetime" movie (not in content... just in style) and at times it seemed a little choppy. That said, the "flashback" sequence that reveals the atrosity of the violence was quite riveting and a little uncomfortable to watch as it didn't hold back.
This is a "thinking persons" thriller, not because you really have to figure anything out, but because it raises the question... what would you do?
Solid, affecting, sad, and insightful... this one's a keeper.
Movie Review: Powerful film shows hate and violence breeds more of the same.
Summary: 4 Stars
Robbie Levinson and Trey McCoy are your stereotypically-successful suburban "guppie" (Gay urban professional) couple, until Trey becomes the victim of a violent "Hate Crime" (2005). The likely suspect is tehir new bible-thumping neighbor, son of the local fundamentalist preacher, who had recently made anti-gay taunts against them, and has a history of homophobic acts. Robbie cannot believe that the police refuse to just arrest him based on the recent verbal bashing and implied threat, and works with friends to try to push the police into action.
A relatively low-budget indie first film by writer/producer/director Tommy Stovall, who managed to attract a mostly-experienced cast of actors who made the rather simplistic screenplay seem a lot better than it really is. Bruce Davidson is riveting as the fundamentalist preacher, and Seth Peterson shows considerable range as Robbie. The musical score is also impressive, including several new songs by writer/artist Ebony Tay. Personally, I was a bit turned off by the "Fight violence and hate with more violence and hate" message conveyed, though it could be commendable that it illustrates that gay men are not content to simply be victims. Overall, I give it four stars out of five.
Movie Review: textbook film turns into revenge flick
Summary: 4 Stars
While watching this film I had to think to myslf how it explored "textbook" facts about the dichotomy of this crime in America. The attackers were depicted as zealots in the extreme, while the attacked was depicted as very much in line with heteronormality. It had the look of a Lifetime movie to it, which added to the "fun" of watching the attacked get even on the attacker's own terms. One point that I found engaging was that as a viewer I was manipulated into disliking Chris, who was as much a victim in this as the attacked. It put an interesting spin on this viewer's own preconcieved notion of arbitrary dislike, in that his own need to be covert (something that happens to every character in the film- everyone has a level of normalcy which is hiding something which is "abnormal" to the status quo) has a reason which is a lot more benign that many of the other characters. So in being a viewer I felt like I was engaged in the point that director wished to posit: an examination of dislike based on surfaces.