The Black Box: A Penny For Your Thoughts
Putting it Bluntly Game Reviews with Cory Showtime
A few days ago my girlfriend and I were eating dinner and searching for something to watch; a common practice for us now in the COVID era. It was her turn to choose and she picked this Amazon original. Neither one of us had ever heard of it and decided to give it a whirl. Long story short, we were juuuust about to fall asleep when the movie got good. Like, really good.
This film follows Nolan (Mamoudou Athie), a recently released coma patient who’s suffering from amnesia. He and his wife were in a terrible car accident in which she didn’t survive. Now, with amnesia and an adorable and capable young daughter to raise named Ava (Amanda Christine), Nolan has to pick up the pieces of his life.
And everything is going wrong. He can’t get his job back as a photographer, he struggles to remember to pick up his daughter from school, he has no memory of his past life. That’s when a gifted neurosurgeon (Phylicia Rashad) enters the film, with an offer he can’t refuse. She offers to help him get his memories back with a new invention she’s working on called the Black Box. And I can’t go any further without getting into spoilers but let’s just say this is the point in the film where we stopped dozing off.
Aside from the drag (which I think was intentional to lull the viewer into a false-boredom), this film really hits its peak once good ol’ Claire Huxtable’s true intentions are made clear. I love a film with a good twist, and although you see it coming, it doesn’t disappoint. The acting in this film is excellent. Phylicia Rashad and little Ava Amanda Christine really steal the show. Ava is the canary in the mine shaft. Like most children, she’s brutally honest. She can smell something’s not right with her dad. And Nolan’s performance really comes off as genuine discovery as he starts to regain his memory.
It’s hard to rate this film without going into what makes it really worth watching, because what makes it worth watching is the twist. And I’ll never spoil a good twist. So,
THE VERDICT: 78% Chronic on the Bammer Scale. This is some decent Indica that gives you couch lock and tries to put you to sleep. But if you fight thru it, you won’t miss out on an awesome experience…Actually, I take it back; this film is Quaaludes. Fight thru the boredom and watch it thru. Also, if you’re a fan of a certain director who was part of a famous Black sketch comedy duo, you’re gonna feel like you’ve seen this film before. But its a great change from what you’ve already seen.
