The Hate U Give (2018)

Director: George Tillman Jr.
Stars: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby
Runtime: 133 minutes

Synopsis: After witnessing a horrific event, Starr tries to deal with it in the best way possible.

Performances: 6/10
Screenplay: 5/10
Costumes/Makeup: 7/10
Editing: 6/10
Cinematography: 6/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10

Verdict: Centered around heavy themes such as racism, police brutality, or gang violence, "The Hate U Give" had all the ingredients to make me or anyone who watches it feel uneasy, disturbed, and most of all affected by the events depicted. And yet, it didn't.

Realistic and believable characters are usually what constitute the core of films like this one since they're the ones we, as an audience, relate to and care about, resulting in a much heavier impact than your average drama. And while "Blindspotting", a very similarly themed movie released a little earlier that year, nailed this particular aspect by introducing us to extremely well-written characters, the same sadly cannot be said about George Tillman's film.

"The Hate U Give" is definitely not a bad movie, it just didn't achieve its main goal of sending its urging message in an effective way. Partly sank by dodgy acting, but mostly betrayed by a chaotic script filled with unnecessary storylines and cheesy lines of dialogues, as well as poorly written climactic scenes and underdeveloped characters, I never felt invested in the story or affected emotionally by its development. With a runtime of over 2 hours, the film also suffered from pacing issues that didn't do it any favors.  

FINAL GRADE: 6/10

To see how "The Hate U Give" compares to other movies released in 2018, click here.