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| Free State of Jones (2016) |
Cast
Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew McConaughey Matthew McConaughey ...
Newton Knight
Gugu Mbatha-Raw Gugu Mbatha-Raw ...
Rachel
Mahershala Ali Mahershala Ali ...
Moses
Keri Russell Keri Russell ...
Serena
Christopher Berry Christopher Berry ...
Jasper Collins
Sean Bridgers Sean Bridgers ...
Will Sumrall
Jacob Lofland Jacob Lofland ...
Daniel
Storyline
Set during the Civil War, Free State of Jones tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy. Banding together with other small farmers and local slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones. Knight continued his struggle into Reconstruction, distinguishing him as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War. Written by STX Entertainment.
User Reviews
Needs to be much, much more of much, much less
29 June 2016 | by bankofmarquis (Minnesota)
There's a good movie to be had with the material that was covered in Gary Ross' film, FREE STATE OF JONES, but this movie is not it. Long, languid and disjointed, this experience is only held together by yet another strong Matthew McConaughey performance.
FREE STATE OF JONES is based on the true-life story of Newton Knight, a Confederate deserter who leads a rebellion against the Confederacy towards the end of the Civil War and starts his own nation.
Based on that description and the trailers to this movie, I was expecting a battle filled epic adventure about one man's stand against the establishment. What we get instead is a slow moving character study of Knight and his life before, during and AFTER his rebellion.
Based on a story by Leonard Hartman, Director and Screenwriter Ross spends the 2 hour and 16 minutes of this movie to tell many, many stories - all centered around Knight - to help flesh out his character. And, in the hands of McConaughey, this character does come to life. Unfortunately, what was sacrificed by this was the fleshing out of ANY of the supporting characters. The consequence of this is that we are not emotionally invested in any of these characters, so when something happens to them, we just shrug and move on - much like Newton Knight himself.
Director Ross moves (or doesn't move) this film at a deliberate pace, so there are quite a few long, slow, quiet scenes of Knight thinking or Knight and another character talking and reacting to each other. The few action scenes that there are in this movie are perfunctory and the coda to this movie (the part that takes place after THE FREE STATE OF JONES part of the film is complete) takes up a good 1/3 of the films' length at the end showing how the freed slaves were not really free and McConaughey's Knight must again seethe and react to these injustices with long stares into the distance and a few beautifully written words that sums things up.
There is, potentially, an interesting movie in here. One that either needs to be much shorter (focusing on THE FREE STATE OF JONES portion of this film) or much longer (to flesh out the supporting characters). Instead, I got a film that felt like I was reading the CLIFF'S NOTES version of things. I got the gist of what happened, I just didn't get the emotion.
