When They See Us

Artlessly, brainlessly recycles the worst self-congratulatory tropes of Stanley Kramer: compare "Don't worry. [Trump's] 15 minutes gonna be up soon" to SHIP OF FOOLS' unforgivable "What can they do? Kill all six million of us?" To say nothing of white lawyers dropping "dog whistle" and "dumpster fire" casually into conversation in fucking 1989. This is pure hashtag cinema: dull, dumb, dopamining, completely unconcerned with history that can't be made therapeutic and whitewashed in buzzwords.

Shamelessly overwrought and melodramatic presentation of what was (and is) a tragic and maddening miscarriage of justice is handled by DuVernay as if she doesn't quite trust the inherent power of her material, attempting to jazz things up with an aggressively intrusive music score and directing some of her actors to go right over the top (Huffman the worst offender). There is a powerful (and meaningful) story to be told here, but not in this overlong and repetitive mess of a mini-series.

Ava DuVernay manages to turn an incredulously tragic and important real life story into a sappy pity party with a trendy soundtrack.

Strong performance from the actors but unfortunately DuVernay turns an otherwise interesting story into an over the top melodramatic mini series that almost made me barf at times.

Heart-wrenching and rage-inducing, Ava DuVernay's passion project will keep you on a rollercoaster of emotions. It's one thing to read about this case and it's another to see these 5 kids victimized and revictimized for a decade in the bowels of systemic racism and the prison industrial complex. What a cast! Out of everyone, I wanted to hold Jharrel Jerome - Korey Wise in my arms and never let him go. There are some anachronisms, but IDGAF. People need to see this now. Watch Ava's '13th', too.

The John Perazzo piece is utter nonsense and if you believe it you're an idiot.

Črnec ki igra Corey-a je naravnost fantastičen. Res hud.

I couldn’t get enough of this. It was incredibly hard to watch at times, but a must see. It shows the truth of the prison systems in America and the blatant racism/corruption in the police forces.

Hard to rate. It’s incredibly well done, especially the acting from such a strong cast. It’s also a very important story that should be told and not forgotten. On the other hand, this is by far one of the most aggravating viewing experiences I’ve had due to how awful the events were, and the lack of catharsis with many of the worst characters/people portrayed having little to no repercussions. It’s a true story, so it can’t be avoided, but it does make for a painful, but recommend watch.

The performances of the youth actors brings the characters to life. You can't help but feel dread and anger towards their circumstance as the boot of the state stomps on them.

Meh. Kind of boring and long. Nothing special.

Really Good

'I would love to be a well-educated black, because I really believe they do have an actual advantage today.'–McDonald Trump

Much too long so I have withdrawn 10-15 points.

Hard hitting and depressingly necessary 30 years later.

not so good

Solid enough docudrama earns its stripes. It's a bit over the top but for the most remains stoic. Good performances by the young actors help a lot.

At the centre of this drama is the flashing reminder that it is based on a true story and the real story is one of complete incompetence on behalf of the NYPD. This 4 part drama however bounces around to try and bring out the big moments of the last 30 years of the lives of 5 men. It felt rushed and minus Part 4 did little to attach you to the overall narrative of the 5. Korey was the only one given his proper due in a series that tried to capitalize on the current state of America.