Blood Diamond (2006) Movie Review, Cast & Crew, Film Summary

As much as this was a pulpy Fred Forsyth style adventure I tolerated it. The pretensions to relevance and the excruciatingly milked finale were, however, vomitiferous. Really, it should have been made in 1942, starred George Raft, Rex Ingram, and Linda Darnell, and been called The Diamond Raiders or something. It’s both laughable and, yet, not amusing when filmmakers set out to make a movie about current crises and offer up leering, cigar smoking villains and a full barrage of contemporary Hollywood screenwriting cliches. Mercenary with a heart of gold. Foxy female journalist. Simple good-hearted black hero. Asshole baddie ripe for severe chastisement. Kept a grip thanks to Leo DiCaprio’s unwavering commitment to his ridiculous character and Djimon Hounsou’s force of personality – I think it’s time he got a new agent however, so he doesn’t have to go stripping bare-assed and swimming about in mud for once. Ed Zwick once again proves himself an utterly meretricious director with a flair for action and overripe drama.