Small Axe: Red, White and Blue

Name: Small Axe: Red, White and Blue
Genre: Drama
Released: December 4, 2020
Rating: 84
Cast: Terence Egnie, Tyrone Jeffers, Zakiyyah Deen

2020

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	Your Score
6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Amazon Prime Video | Release Date (Streaming): December 4, 2020

Starring: Terence Egnie, Tyrone Jeffers, Zakiyyah Deen

Summary: Leroy Logan (John Boyega) is a young forensic scientist with a yearning to do more than his solitary laboratory work. When he sees his father assaulted by two policemen, he finds himself driven to revisiting a childhood ambition to become a police officer; an ambition borne from the naïve hope of wanting to change racist attitudes from within.

Director: Steve McQueen

Genre(s): Drama

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Lucy Popescu

Nov 29, 2020

McQueen and Newland’s assured script grips from the start and keeps us deeply involved in the characters’ fates. Read full review

Clint Worthington

Oct 3, 2020

Tonally, McQueen and co-writer Courttia Newland’s screenplay flits capably between character study, issue film, and cop drama so seamlessly you’ll barely notice it’s changed gears, and at eighty minutes there’s not an ounce of fat on it. Read full review

Alonso Duralde

Oct 3, 2020

It’s a slower burn than those other two “Small Axe” entries, but it builds to a final scene between Boyega and Toussaint that’s quiet but shattering. Read full review

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Oct 3, 2020

McQueen’s gripping true-life drama compensates for some of its more heavy-handed beats thanks to Boyega’s staggering, career-best performance and the fiery tone that surrounds it at every turn. The movie is both a ferocious indictment and a call to action that embodies Logan’s cause, even if it’s doomed from the start. Read full review

K. Austin Collins

Dec 10, 2020

Here’s McQueen working in one of his most exciting modes as a director: cool anger. In contrast to the passionate political thrust of of Mangrove and the heated groove of Lovers Rock, Red, White, and Blue is wrought of images that feel clinical and removed — until you mash them together into a movie. That’s when the hellmouth cracks open, and all the seeming poise at the movie’s surface is revealed for the disguise that it is. The studied symmetries, the visual confrontations marked along racial lines, all of it is expressive, and much of it works. Read full review

Alissa Wilkinson

Nov 19, 2020

There are many obvious reasons why Red, White and Blue feels timely, but perhaps the greatest one is that it depicts the tricky dynamics Leroy experiences among his superiors. Read full review

The Film Stage Vikram Murthi

Oct 13, 2020

Generally speaking, Red, White and Blue succeeds whenever the film deviates from the message and showcases spontaneous and unfettered life. Read full review

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User Reviews

Ninja6

Jan 8, 2021

Possibly the most prescient of the films for an American audience in that it deals with police and racism. The focus on how to improve one’s community from within system as an outsider is timeless.

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JLuis_001

May 8, 2021

Trying to beat or improve the system by joining it, may not sound like the best of ideas, especially when that system is showing you that you're inconsequential, thus the enthusiasm of your idealism will be constantly diminished.

However, that's the main strength of this story, regardlessTrying to beat or improve the system by joining it, may not sound like the best of ideas, especially when that system is showing you that you're inconsequential, thus the enthusiasm of your idealism will be constantly diminished.

However, that's the main strength of this story, regardless of whether its results are destined to fail, because what John Boyega's character does is that he's willing to take action, and although he may not eventually achieve a change, it's very sure that someone will follow in his footsteps.
The heart of the matter is facing that defeat.

I'm really digging this project.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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