There is way too much foreplay to this movie. The actual story starts with a dramatic shooting seven weeks before the riots, then switches to an overburdened mother and her cantankerous neighbour, as well a feisty homeless girl (whom soon attracts the attention of two grown boys living with the mother). I felt there was more attention paid to the story of the homeless girl than the Halle Berry story. The problem with the movie is that this long distance of time and the parallel story lines creates a lack of focus. There is also a constant diversion to the unravelling of the times on the ever-present TV which lead to the fateful night of the riots. I appreciate the ticking time bomb intention. It all seems over-long, over-complicated and thus under-committed. If the story had just followed the mother I feel we could have had a more powerful movie. She has numerous kids, all with charm, and an action-packed story of her own. Once you realise the plot you'll quickly realise that her tale has all the impact needed to bring together all the elements of horror of that fateful day and night. I also believe more attention could have been paid to the riots and looting itself. It was a cheap shot to constantly have to follow that on grainy pre-digital tv images instead of something weightier produced by Hollywood itself. Too often we see this in movies these days. A great movie concept, but the vision is marred by wanting to show too much in too little time. I appreciate how hard that must be, but the means to the end needs to be entertaining, and despite the quality of some of the performances here and the originality and cuteness of some of the story ideas, I felt that that very cuteness ran counter to the seriousness of the parallel story (the homeless girl) and was too much on the plate. Something needed to go, or something needed to be handled differently. It's still a good movie for all that, and definitely an honest salute to those affected by the riots themselves, and Halle Berry's terrific performance will certainly make the effort worth the while.
