Kings Movie Review

The movie “Kings” is an attempt to tell the story of the LA riots in 1992. It zooms in to a close-up level on a black foster mother raising quite a few kids while living in the South Central section of LA. After the beating of Rodney King, there were four cops on trial for the incident. The verdict came back ‘not guilty’, and much of the town exploded in violence. Black people were outraged and took to the streets in droves.

Mille (Halle Berry) somehow has seven or so children in her care. She gets some money from the state for raising the kids, but she also gets some more cash by selling bundt cakes. Which is a very black thing to do, I hear. There are some her kids with names, but there are so many it all seems a blur of who is who.  There is an incident at night where Millie pulls another young black boy off the streets, who is being stopped by the cops. She just takes him in and that’s that. Also, there is some young black girl who drops out and maybe gets involved in a gang, but it is not clear.

There is a neighbor who lives alone named Obie (Daniel Craig) and he is one of the only white men left in that part of the city. He plays classical music (it figures) and he gets annoyed when Millies younger boys play ball in the alley. There is one day when Mille is mad at the three younger boys and tells them to stay outside, because they misbehaved will not get supper. Obie sees them and takes the three smaller kids in and gets them some food and cares for them. Millie is panicked, but she sees that her grumpy neighbor has a softer side.

The weeks go on and there is a rising sense of tension, until the verdict comes in from the trial. Then a match that has been thrown onto a puddle of racial gasoline ignites the city into flames. There are roving gangs of violent gangs and multiple stores being looted. There are multiple fires across the city, and the firemen and policemen cannot come out to save structures or people. The raw power of hatred has overcome society, and Millie and Obie are trapped in the middle.

This movie very uneven and it has a place that it wants to get to. But it never seems to get to that place. In a time where there are major true stories to tell (LA race riots), this movie would rather serve up a weak fictional story of a black mother and some white guy. There is a very awkward sort-of romance that is tacked onto this relationship. But that does not feel deserved at all. The characters of each of the kids is so fuzzy that I could not tell which black teenage foster son was the ‘good son’ and which was the ‘mean streets son’.

And there is no indication of that silly movie title and what it means. “Kings’, does that mean LA Kings, the NHL team in LA? Does it mean that LA cops see all the inner-city black dudes as ‘Kings’, as in a bunch of Rodney Kings? Does it mean there was a defective deck of cards, and it contained only face cards, the ‘King’ type card? Inquiring minds what to know!

If this movie wants to see what an excellent movie about a race riot looks like, then they can check out ‘Detroit’. It is a movie from last year, but it also had some similar themes of racial injustice and black rage. This movie “Kings’ is a Hallmark version of a real gritty, down-to-earth expose of a race riot.

Playing in Phoenix area at Harkins Shea 14