Alice Film 2022
Alice escapes a woman living in the south from a farm where she suffers from slavery, only to find herself faced with the shocking reality that she was in 1973 and living in a different era than reality.
By the time Alice decides she’s going back for revenge, the film borders on being more silly than serious. Alice takes a page out of Pam Grier’s Coffy to get stylish payback on Paul and, while it’s a clear homage to blaxploitation films, it’s a moment that doesn’t feel particularly at home in Alice. It’s a strange combination and one that isn’t handled very well. It’s ultimately Keke Palmer’s performance that lends any credibility to all the emotions Alice is feeling. As Alice reads her way through the history of Black people, catching up on everything that’s happened from the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Movement Palmer’s eyes and facial expressions do a lot to convey the shock, relief, and happiness, frustration, and outright anger her character feels. And it is only by his exceptional interpretation that Alice is redeemed.
Common has a lot less material to work with and Frank is a far more passive character despite having been an activist for ten years. Frank has some tension with his brother, but it’s just as underdeveloped as his reasons for briefly questioning Alice’s mission. Common’s performance suffers because of it. Aside from Palmer’s portrayal, the story is otherwise all over the place, with Ver Linden attempting to do too many things at once in a film that could have used a lot more time to properly flesh out its arc. Any proper character development and the forging of new relationships are overlooked and overshadowed by the revenge thriller portion of the film, which feels tacked on to deliver a kick-ass conclusion.
One can appreciate what Ver Linden is trying to do in Alice, but the third act substitutes style over substance, which greatly harms the film and Alice’s journey in it, especially as it leads to an ending that feels more sensationalized than anything. Palmer is fantastic in a film that needed more depth and time for Alice to acclimate to her surroundings. Without that, it leaves Alice’s realism and emotional core lacking as it veers wildly into one-note chaos.
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