Blindspotting

There are many, many scenarios of my life which I will never encounter. 

Two specific ones are the following:

1) Being a police officer out on the streets, just trying to have a safe shift. 

2) Being a black man out on said streets, similarly trying to make it home safe, and being profiled by police even when I may be innocent. 

Police brutality against the African American community has been a key topic in America for the last few years and for good reason: it exists. I think only the very far right would disagree, but there are plenty instances of bystander footage that proves it. 

Equally though, there are pieces of footage where the police seemed justified in their brutality (often due to extreme measures to resist arrest) and it's probably only the very far left that would disagree and say ALL potential police brutality cases are the same. They aren't. 

And somewhere in the middle you have no video and only surviving parties and bystanders word in court, often situations where I'm certainly no judge so I feel comfortable having my opinion and more often than not, keeping it to myself. 

I loved Blindspotting because I felt like it understood this more than most films. Where some films feel heavily left leaning (not necessarily blame, just the nature of the majority of Hollywood), Blindspotting feels logically real. It feels sane in its approach and what it's trying to say. And it says a damn lot. 

"I promise that fart wasn't me..."

I'm someone who has always believed that stereotypes exist for a reason, for better or worse. We all judge a person either consciously or subconsciously when we look at them or see them perform an action. Perhaps its just my experience in life (but I doubt it) but if you were to tally that person's appearance or action as stereotype or not, more often than not you'll get a point in the "Yeah they fit that stereotype to some degree" column. Snobby rich white kids, African American males with their pants around their knees, douchy hipsters, Asian drivers...you know you've profiled them before and if you haven't you're lying to yourself. Blindspotting (getting back to the movie now, I promise) challenges these with the differences of their main characters, Collin and Miles. Collin is a generally well-behaved black man who's on his last few days of probation from an instance where he lost his temper and ended up in jail. Miles is his fast-talking, somewhat loose-cannon Caucasian friend who did not go to jail. Both were raised in Oakland and they're best friends with similar tendencies and tastes. The film touches on all sorts of issues like gentrification and culture appropriation in such smart ways that I was consistently impressed. Much unlike The First Purge (much different film, I get it) from a few weeks ago where all white people = evil, Blindspotting challenges your understanding and acceptance of stereotypes in different ways. Not the least of which is the simple fact that Miles is white, born and raised in Oakland, and has systematically less-risky life compared to his African, hair-braided best friend, but is the more poorly-behaved of the two. 

The crux of the film -- though it's not its only focus -- is that of police brutality. To Blindspotting's credit, it mirrors several of those bystander films where you ARE shocked that the police opened fire. Ones where the victim is running away from police, back to them, and begging them not to shoot. Sure, they shouldn't be running away from law enforcement, but unless they're currently armed or just raped/killed someone, it's probably not worth ending their life over it. Blindspotting does not throw all police under the bus -- one of its wisest moves. There are many great, talented cops out there and instead, Blindspotting focuses on one, single cop (in minimal capacity) who made the decision to pull the trigger. It likely plays a somewhat smaller role in the entire film than you may gather from the trailers, but the resolution of it all is a culmination of revenge, empathy, and one hell of a powerful scene. 

The film does a miraculous job balancing heavy material and it's more poignant moments with some of the most consistent humor of the year. Shockingly, this is likely to be an end-of-year candidate for funniest film and it switches between the two with incredible ease. Diggs and Casal have great chemistry and the script, which they also wrote together, is fast-firing and hilarious (when it needs to be). During their more emotional moments, both of them are equally talented with some of the best performances of 2018. Both their performances and the script create a film that zips right along and is consistently engaging, also hitting the short-and-sweet checkbox at only 95 minutes. Given how much is covered in this film, the runtime is an impressive feat and shows the efficiency of the film's layout and scene selection. Many scenes may feel like they're a bit superfluous, but you generally don't care because they're fun and ultimately they're continuously building this bond between Collin and Miles to drive some later points home. Throw in an awesome soundtrack and some nifty camera work with the slick editing/pacing and you've also got yourself a competent technical film.

"Naw we won't get arrested for all this interior lighting."

I figured I would like Blindspotting, but I wasn't convinced I would love it. Or that it would say anything really all that well or articulate that similar films haven't tried to before. Perhaps I was preemptively stereotyping the film, almost further playing into the hand of the film's smart guidance. I certainly didn't think I'd be seeing one of the best films of the year, or funniest of the year, or smartest of the year but...well...here we are. Blindspotting is it. 

CONS

• A handful of scenes that maybe didn't need to be there
• Could have used the presence of one "good" cop character to counteract the singular "bad" cop -- but then the film would have likely been longer

PROS

• So, so smart on a whole lot of topics without being overtly political. It feels real and logical about stereotypes, police profiling and brutality, gentrification, and cultural appropriation. I loved the connect back to the film's title too
• Incredible central performances from Diggs and Casal
• Equally as impressive is their natural chemistry
• Double kudos to them for a tight, lean, and hilarious script that offers up a surprise comedy
• Moves effortlessly from humorous moments to tense ones
• Memorable ending -- one of the year's best scenes
• Short and sweet because of some efficient editing and pacing
• Perfect soundtrack
• Skilled camera work
• An entertaining, memorable film with equally memorable characters that has a lot to say. And it says all of it well

Rath's Review Score | 10/10 - Instant Classic