I found this movie through a couple gifs of Leonard I saw online and had little to go off of from; I had little to no expectations for the movie whatsoever and watched it for no other reason than curiosity. It started off a bit ok to say the least but it serves the purpose well of introducing the characters Bama and Jamie. I expected Jamie to play a bigger role in the movie than he actually does, not saying his role is insignificant, just that not as much as I first thought. Who I consider to be the main character of the movie is therefore Jamie. Jamie throughout the movie goes through a lot of growth in the relatively short span of 1 hour and 30 minutes. From starting the movie almost freezing up at the sound of gunfire, to sprinting down joining the raid while limping with a bullet still in his leg. The movie deals with the conversation of cults and its interesting how they portray it. Nearing the end of the movie where Bama and Zeke are teaming up to kill Jamie, Bama is heard talking to Jamie, using words, phrases, and dialogue that resembles those said in a cult. I cant quite say for sure what this scene was aiming to say, be it that the government or government agencies act as some sort of cult, or that cults are broader than just a group of zealots. What the movie aims for is rather broad so it doesn't really talk about any specific aspect of the government or cults, rather it begs the question; either to if the government fights for good, the definition of a cult, etc. Racism is also part of the movie but it mostly comes from the character of Zeke, making them fit their stereotype more, it adds a different level on belief and morality and how people's treatment of others changed based on what "group" they're in and not just their race. The only thing that rather peeved me during the movie is a scene where Freebie is talking to Hank about what they do in the compound, and during so, flashes of scenes of Freebie engaging in intimacy is flashed onto the screen. I don't find this necessary, as the watcher themselves can piece together the same idea without it, and it acts as the movie babying the watchers and comes off as rather gratuitous. There are a lot of things that this movie brings to mind, but I consider them to be purely up to the watcher's response and I would just be going into some more semantics. I highly recommend this movie and I would watch it again in the future- a solid 8/10. I can't say much about the performance of the actor's in the movie, but hey, Robert Sean Leonard is in it and that's a win for me.
Review of Standoff
