ROCKERS REVIEW
by Andrés González:

I feel like Horsemouth Wallace, funnily enough, has characteristics both from Ivan Martin and Derrick Thomson.The former resorts to crime (or gets involved with the mob life) to accomplish his goals, while the latter just wants to fight for what's right. So Horsemouth's journey to get backs his bike and restore justice in town could easily be interpreted as a culmination of the other too. With some caveats, of course. Horsemouth only steals what was first stolen from him, already putting him miles away from someone like Ivan Martin; becoming way more of an anti-hero like Robin Hood.

While it's the most competent film on a technical level out of all the films we've seen for the course, I'm pretty sure it also is the most boring one out of the bunch. It's not "bad" per se, but I really don't think the rather simple premise can be stretched for this long. It can't hold itself together for the whole running time. Yeah, new plot points and changes in scenary are certainly welcomed, helping to change the mood and whatnot, but it's still rather monotonous and uninteresting. Half of the time, specially on that latter half, I really wanted to use my phone rather than actually watch the film. It's a shame because it's very promising at first. The initial credits hook you instantly, and the first scene literally is an expertly choreographed one-take camera move which was actually on par with many big Hollywood productions. Sadly, thing fall apart pretty quickly after that.

In conclusion, to my surprise all things considered, I must say that my favorite film out the bunch we saw is actually The Harder They Come. Yeah, it's awkward, amateur-ish, confusing and by all means 'not good', but it has the highest entertainment value overall. The plot development is so 'out there' insane I can't help but admire it. As I said in my first review, me and my friend has a blast watching it. Laughing out loud at every reveal or outlandish, violent scene. It was also rather nice to look at too, with the cinematography (specially those zoom shots) and color grading being clear stand-outs. The reggea soundtrack is also the best out of the three films in my opinion. Lastly, I really respect how it decides to portray the sentiment of the Jamaican people to reclaim what is theirs in a post-colonial world in such a chaotic and evil way. It may be ridiculous, but it somehow feels more true to life.