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"Blood" no diamond in the rough |
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Written by Colin Covert, McClatchy-Tribune
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
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 ‘Blood Diamond’
2 out of 4
Leonard DiCaprio, Djimon Honsou, Jennifer Connelly
R / 2 hrs. 23 mins. / Cinemark 16,
Cinemark 12 Greeley, Metrolux 14
What with the cast lurching and hopscotching through hailstorms of gunfire and artillery shells, it must have taken lots of stamina to film “Blood Diamond.” It certainly takes loads to watch it.
Perhaps the goofiest message movie ever made, it aims to rally viewers to a cause that must look quite pressing from the vantage point of a superstar’s Rolls-Royce: We must all make sure when purchasing diamonds that they do not come from war-torn regions of Africa. Let me note that on my shopping list right next to skim milk and frozen pizza.
The film gives us Leonardo DiCaprio as a brash Zimbabwean soldier of fortune turned diamond smuggler. During the 1990s civil war in Sierra Leone, he learns of a gigantic diamond discovered, and hidden, by a fisherman (Djimon Honsou).
Honsou wants to use the gem to ransom his son from ruthless rebel kidnappers who are brainwashing him into becoming a boy soldier. DiCaprio needs the sparkler to buy his way out of Africa. Various militias want it to finance more ammunition (on the evidence of this film, they burn through it at a furious rate).
Sneaky European diamond merchants want it for Paris Hilton, I suppose. Jennifer Connelly orbits the action as a newsmagazine reporter, snapping photos and speechifying about the shameful trade in politically incorrect “conflict diamonds.”
The notably picky DiCaprio, who has starred in only six films since
“Titanic,” presumably signed on for the chance to do a R-r-r-r-r-r-hodesian accent. It’s hard to see any other explanation for agreeing to a script that should be held by two fingers at arm’s length and dropped in the nearest rubbish bin.
Although “Blood Diamond” carries an air of social importance (it is directed by Ed Zwick, that one-man cavalcade of nobility who gave us “Glory,” “The Siege,” “Courage Under Fire” and “The Last Samurai”), it is simply a mindless action flick with gallons of bloodshed.
Tying an action adventure to documented facts wouldn’t be difficult, but the noisy, insubstantial “Blood Diamond” exists in that fantasy land where the good guys can outrun explosions and the bad guys’ machine guns never hit their target. Neither does this film, by a long shot. | Only registered users can write comments.
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