Freelancers (2012)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

CROSSFIRE wasn't quite the dog of the film I was expecting but it's certainly no classic and it only barely gets there as an average and acceptable watch. There are two major problems with this production which drag it down and the first of those is lead actor Curtis Jackson, better known to the world as rapper 50 Cent. Jackson is no actor and is as wooden as they come, so watching him attempting to convey any emotion apart from the most basic happy/sad expression is a real chore and quite embarrassing in places.The second problem is the familiarity of the material. CROSSFIRE feels like a Frankenstein's Monster of a movie, made up of bits and pieces from TRAINING DAY, RAMPART, STREET KINGS, and at least half a dozen others. Heck, Forest Whitaker is here and playing nearly EXACTLY the same role as he essayed in STREET KINGS. Despite these problems, CROSSFIRE is occasionally thrilling in places and there's a lot of involved material to fill up the running time. Robert De Niro is barely in it but at least he doesn't embarrass himself and there's a nice minor part for Dana Delany. While I enjoyed CROSSFIRE in places I do feel that with a better lead actor and story it could have been something truly great rather than just average.

Pros: Nice cast Cons: Horrible dialogue, incredibly stupid plot line, massively incoherent storytellingI'm sorry for the grammar, but running out of adjectives to enhance the poorness of this film. It is listed as a crime drama, but should be under Sci-Fi, because anything Star Trek is more probable than most of the stuff in this movie.I live in Sweden and don't have a clue how the Police Force in the states works, and much less about how the corrupt side of it would look. But I'm willing bet taking poison that it doesn't even remotely look anything like this. Rookies coming in and on the first day being offered to become dirty, through a "one way door". Basically saying become dirty with us or we will kill you!? That's just the beginning of the ludicrousness.You will not enjoy this movie, no matter how much you love any of the cast. Apart from the story being incredibly stupid, it is told in such an incoherent way that it's hard to understand what is going on. It feels like the actors know this, because most of them just come in and read their lines – some scenes literally sounds more like a read through of the script..I won't go on ranting, because there is no end to all the horrendousness I could pick on. 50 Cent – I understand you have some sort of liason with (director) Jesse Terrero, but please stop appearing in his horrible movies.

We found this one in the bargain bin, and that's where it should have stayed. My wife and I started watching this last night, but the utterly ridiculous storyline and script made it impossible to watch to the end. As such I can only review the first 26 minutes of what is by far the worst film I've ever seen. I've no idea what Robert De Niro and Forest Whitaker were doing in this movie, but presumably they were in desperate need of money. I can imagine that we'll be seeing them both doing ads for haemorrhoid cream, or perhaps even appearing on the shopping channel soon.....If you like to think that 95% of all policemen are corrupt, and that all white police officers are crass and violent racists, this may be ideal entertainment for you. Otherwise the only worthwhile reason for watching it, is to laugh at the sight of 50 Cent wearing a policeman's hat (actually I'm sure this can be seen in the trailer, so I'd advise you to save your money!)

Where do i start with this film. It had a good concept, i liked how it went for a bit of a Drive style look at polar opposite racism within police units and showing how newbies can be coerced not just into corruption but also racist views from their role model senior partners and it also showed direct and indirect racism. Where this film went wrong was the casting of 50 cent. Similarly to 'Man with the Iron Fist' in which RZA cast himself as the lead, 50 cent just really fell short here, he's a C grade actor at best and despite each scene being carried by better actors than him, he was a rather large stain on a Picasso that can now be chucked in the trash. Again similar to RZA where he single handedly assassinated his own movie Man with the Iron Fist, 50 cent let this one down with his inability to show any expression. His delivery contained about 60% confidence, which is actually more than i would expect from him but still made the movie look like a school play rather than a Hollywood product. Maybe 50 cent looked at Hollywood stars like Vin Diesel, Mark Walburg or the Rock and thought that acting looks quite easy to do, well one thing he might not know is that these actors have genuine charisma in their everyday persona's which is why their scenes pan out the way they do, 50 cent however does not and this movie really shun the spotlight on a very insecure actor and an even more insecure individual in my opinion, his eyes glowed with fear the entire movie. 50 cent's character would be bread and butter for any actor with talent as the character had the ability to be quite complex and display a variety of emotions through out the movie, from animosity, regret, hostility, moral conflict, relief etc. 50 cent however did none of these, the time when he wasn't reciting dialog, he spent absent and expressionless when in these moments, a picture speaks a thousand words and are probably more important than the dialog, as demonstrated by Forest Whitakers character when first introduced. For a gang-banger, you'd at least think 50 cent could hold a gun with confidence, his so called heartfelt negotiation with the youth was actually laughable. A few rappers can act, Common, Ice Cube, Xzibit, Dr Dre even Eminem. 50 cent however is as far down from the list as you can get. 50 cent struggles to get a solid 3 minute music video to look like he has confidence, let alone a full length movie, don't quit your day job, stick to making music and crappy Beats by Dre ripoffs.