- IMDB: 6.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 6.6/10
- CP: 6.3/10
When they announced that Ryan Coogler wouldn’t direct Creed II I was shocked. So shocked that when they announced who would replace him, I had to do my film lover’s diligence and look up this dude Steven Caple Jr.’s work and his most recent film was The Land.
The Land details the lives of four best friends and skateboard enthusiasts, growing up on the mean streets of Cleveland (get it? The Land, CleveLAND).
Jorge Lendeborg Jr. plays Cisco, the leader of the rag tag posse that spends their days cutting school to ride their boards and their nights, jacking unsuspecting average joes for their money and cars. But Cisco has bigger dreams than spending the rest of his life sleeping on the floor in his uncle’s nasty apartment while his uncle’s girlfriend who looks suspiciously like Erykah Badu, turns tricks on the mattress right next to him.
Grimy right?
When an opportunity presents itself, Cisco tells full advantage of it despite his friends’ initial objections. But eventually they get on board and things start looking up for the crew…until they don’t.
The movie does a good job painting a picture of a world destitute of positivity or “light”, making the audience feel for the plight of these kids, even despite their criminal tendencies. One second they’re robbing people or making drug deals and then something happens to remind you that these are really just kids and even more depressing, there are probably kids out there going through these very same things.
The young stars perform well enough to make the story of these kids trying to navigate very adult situations, believable. However there are times in the movie when Lendeborg Jr. crosses the line from being the smart, ambitious, resourceful leader to being the obnoxious a-hole that just did something else stupid. But maybe that was by design. I found myself rooting for Cisco and hoping he would make a “come up” until one too many questionable decisions had me hoping his ass would get “got”.
Another highlight of the movie is the soundtrack. Hip hop joints from artists like Pusha T, Dave East, Machine Gun Kelly, Nas and Ezri Walker (who plays Boobie in the movie), help set the tone for the gritty style of filmmaking that Caple Jr. employs.
When it was all said and done, The Land was a pleasant surprise considering I had NEVER heard of it or Caple Jr. before he was anointed as the Creed 2 director. And even though I feel a little more comfortable about Coogler’s decision not to direct, I’m still hoping Caple doesn’t eff this up.
Memorable Moment: The inciting incident for the film starts out like just a couple of kids doing the dumb unruly shit that kids do. And then a skateboard to the back of the dome changes everything.