Freedomland | 
| Director: Joe Roth
Actors: Julianne Moore, Samuel L. Jackson, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $0.01
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Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 41448
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dubbed, Dvd, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Italian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 113 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D11440D
UPC: 043396114401
EAN: 0043396114401
ASIN: B000FEBZ0A
Theatrical Release Date: February 17, 2006
Release Date: May 30, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
When her son disappears and is feared to be dead, a single mom blames an African-American man from the projects, creating a racial controversy. An African-American detective and a white missing child researcher investigate the case, which they discover may be more complicated than they expected.
Amazon.com
There are an abundance of outstanding performances in the uneven dramatic thriller Freedomland, with leads Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore leading the way for a string of strong actors. The disappointment comes in the telling of the tale and getting all those performances on the same page. The movie is based on a dense novel by the talented and highly acclaimed writer Richard Price (who adapted the screenplay); the setting is a fictional town in Northern New Jersey and the low-income housing complex at its heart. As a housing project cop who's respected for keeping the peace and being fair with the residents, Lorenzo Council (Jackson) stumbles onto the case of an apparent carjacking and child abduction one night that throws the projects into turmoil. But there's something fishy in the details Brenda Martin (Moore) slowly brings to light regarding her abductor and her missing child. Jackson and Moore deliver a series of superbly nuanced monologues with varying degrees of passion, but the story can't always keep up with their talky exposition. Most of the burden lies with director Joe Roth, who sometimes finds it hard to make the intricacies of Price's screenplay lively enough. Even so, Freedomland is a serious commentary about racial tension and personal emotion. Supporting players Edie Falco (of The Sopranos fame) and the grandly aging character actor William Forsythe as Lorenzo's partner add greatly to this valiant attempt at a deep dramatic statement. --Ted Fry
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| Customer Reviews: Read 68 more reviews...
 Not sure about this one June 1, 2009
Knopfler720 (Quincy, MA United States)
I'm a die hard fan of Samuel L. Jackson, and thought he did not deter from his usual rivetting performance. However, the movie was a straight forward mess. Julianne Moore obviously got the part from doing the same distressed acting in Magnolia. Seen it all before. This movie was entirely predictable which bothered me greatly. The issue of racism comes on strong, but is a mere diversion from the real crime. Next.
Decent but Could Have Been Better April 15, 2009
Patrick (North Carolina)
I had been wanting to see this movie for a long time and I finally got around to watching it and it was a big let down for me. The plot just wasn't original enough for me. It felt like a plot and a movie I had seen and heard of often before which for me is boring when it seems like a repeat or copy cat type movie. Julianne Moore's acting was great and Samuel L. Jackson was pretty good also so for me the problem wasn't the acting but just the story. I enjoy Jackson's acting but I feel like he too often takes every role presented to him and I think there would have been better movies for him to do than this one. Overall it's a decent movie, it's not a movie I would likely watch again but it's a movie worth seeing once.
 Brutal: find your own copy in the bargain-bin December 28, 2008
Nathan Beauchamp (Oak Park, IL USA)
Awful. That one word could sum up this entire movie. How did a movie with such good actors and initially promising plot run off the tracks this dramatically? Essentially this movie is proof that if doesn't matter who you cast in a movie if the plot and script are poor. Plot holes, jumpy storyline, and a conclusion that is laughable make this one of the worst 'crime drama' genre movies I've ever had the misfortune of watching.
1.5/5 stars. Not even worth the cost to rent, much less buy. Possibly useful by the corrections department to soften hardened criminals or to get witnesses to talk.
What in the world??????? May 29, 2008
LORD I O U (ROCKFORD, IL)
This was an awful waste of my time movie. I actually didn't enjoy the acting or the story line in this movie. I only regret that I purchase this movie instead of renting it. If only I had read the reviews first, instead of just watching a preview on another video. That preview was very misleading. The story line is all over the place and very hard to understand. Some of the acting is just unbelieveable, and weak.
Decent performances, bad movie March 20, 2008
Kevin D A Major (Barrington, NH United States)
Freedomland tries oh so hard to be both a crime thriller and social commentary that it fails at both. Instead of insight into the realities of race in America, or an interesting story with creative twists, Freedomland delivers an uneven, ham-fisted movie that is more pretentious than deep.
I won't go into the details of the plot. Other reviews have already done so with great clarity. I will state, however, that the acting is surprisingly good despite the mostly horrid dialogue. I felt particularly sympathetic for Julianne Moore. Her dialogue was a mess, especially during the important moments, such as the big reveal at the end. It's hard to imagine her wreck of a character switching from surprising eloquence to an almost catatonic state and back again in mere seconds, despite whatever mental instability she may have had. Some of these sudden shifts in tone and dialogue no doubt stem from the director's sense of artistic license, but in this case less would have definitely generated a better result.
The movie itself, from a plot standpoint, is muddled. Some of it is paint-by-numbers, namely how the racial tension inevitably turns into full-scale riots. Some of it is just a bit weird, specifically Samuel L. Jackson's character's forgiveness of Moore's character. His faith aside, it just seems too much of a stretch, especially since his character explicitly comments about how jaded he is in humanity as a whole. Moore's character, and her selfish choices, seem to be the last possible catalyst for the changes in Jackson's character. And yet, it still inexplicably happens.
Freedomland is definitely a movie delivered with conviction. It just seems to be confused about what it's actually trying to say. And because of this, it suffers greatly.
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