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Excellent but underrated film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I appreciate the attempt to tackle a serious subject. Children are dying over something as simple as a pair of sneakers. I wanted to like this movie but the acting was horrible and over exaggerated. Yes, the N word, underage drinking, violence and drug use is rampant in an urban environment, but not the way it was depicted in this movie. It was so overdone that it was both laughable and depressing. If your not from this environment please understand that this is a terrible depiction.

Gym shoes and sneakers are often referred to as kicks in the urban community. The right kicks can take a young man from obscurity to being one of the popular/cool kids. Imagine being a poor and unpopular teen that does not have any luck with the opposite sex. Then one day your life is changed by the acquisition of a pair Jordan sneakers. This is the plot of the film Kicks. A poor teenager, Brandon, procures a pair of Jordan brand basketball shoes that are taken shortly after by a neighborhood thug, Flaco, and the movie follows Brandon in his pursuit to retrieve his stolen kicks.Kicks is a smaller budget film that was released directly to DVD and video streaming platforms. In spite of its smaller scale release, I found Kicks enjoyable. This motion picture employs the basic storyline in which the main character's property is stolen, and the film is spent following him as he attempts to reclaim the stolen goods. This time the property in question is a pair of sneakers. Now most material things can be replaced, but sneakers, especially these sneakers stolen in Kicks are irreplaceable. Exclusive sneakers are usually either sold in limited quantities, or the price of a reselling of the same shoes is so outrageous, a person might have to take out a second mortgage to purchase them! In the case of Brandon, having these shoes in the first place is happenstance because of his family's economic status. The biggest problem I had with this film is the pacing. Some of the story elements move too fast where I felt more time was needed. For instance, the build up to Brandon getting the sneakers should have been a slower process. The audience would benefit from seeing the struggle Brandon endures to get the shoes. I purchased my first pair of Jordan gym shoes when I was fifteen years old, the same age as Brandon. I was working my first job at a popular grocery chain, and I wanted the red and black Air Jordan number ones to wear on my first day of school; the same shoes that causes the conflict in Kicks. Even with my part-time job paying weekly, attaining the shoes was still a struggle. I saved for months and even waited in line early on a Saturday morning with the risk the shoes would be sold out before I made it inside the shoe store. Well, unfortunately for me, the shoes did sell out…but luckily one of the salesmen had an extra pair he was willing to sell for an additional $25. The shoes were a half size smaller than I wore at the time. On top of that, they were not the original color-way I was so eager to purchase in the first place; they were navy-blue and white. At that point I did not care because returning home empty handed was not an option. After going through that experience, I would have been devastated if those shoes were stolen. A depiction that illustrates a struggle similar to my experience, or worse would have given the audience the context to understand why it was imperative that Brandon get his Jordan's back. With all that being said, there were a lot of things that work in this movie, namely, the casting. Kicks has a young cast, but they carry themselves like veterans in the industry. One of the characters I must highlight is Brandon's friend Albert, portrayed by Christopher Jordan Wallace, the son of the late great rapper Notorious B.I.G. Wallace cleverly portrays Albert as the comic relief in the movie and his comedic timing is impeccable. Kicks is a grittier film, so Albert balances the film out with humor, without it feeling out of place. I am not sure if Christopher is planning on following his father's footsteps with pursuing a career in music, but he has a bright future in the entertainment industry as an actor. Jahking Guillory was just right for the role of Brandon because he is actually the age of the character he is portraying; a rare occurrence in Hollywood portrayals of adolescents. He has a certain innocence that made me feel protective over his character which makes me root for him throughout the movie. Kofi Siriboe, who depicts Flaco is the perfect antagonist because he is the exact opposite of Brandon. Flaco is menacing with no remorse for his actions, and the viewer can tell he has been through some struggles in his lifetime. Although Flaco is a threatening character, the director Justin Tipping still manages to humanize him; a pertinent component in the creation of a good villain. This is the directorial debut of a full-length picture for Justin Tipping and all in all, I was thoroughly impressed. What he is able to pull off with a smaller budget is quite remarkable, and I look forward to seeing more of his work. If you are a fan of coming of age stories that deal with real world situations, I recommend Kicks for your viewing pleasure.

Trigger Warning(s): Gun Shots and BloodReview (with Spoilers)Noted Actor(s)Brandon (Jahking Guillory) | Albert (Christopher Jordan Wallace) | Rico (Christopher Meyer) | Flaco (Kofi Siriboe) | Jeremiah (Michael Smith Jr.)StorylineBrandon is poor. So poor that while his friends Rico and Albert have a fresh pair of kicks, Brandon's look like he got them at least one or two years ago. So with him hustling candy bars to get some nice shoes, naturally when someone takes them he wants to get them back. Problem is, the person who took them is Flaco. A local hoodlum who is definitely about that life but can Brandon step up, either with help or on his own, and take back what's his? Or is he still a boy and not yet a man?HighlightsThis Movie Will Get You HypedI'm not sure who of you out there may have gone to an urban movie, in a theater which mostly caters to Blacks and Hispanics, and had that one person who decided to vocalize or express how a particular scene made them feel. Well, let me tell you that person may end up being you with this movie. Something about the way violence happens, the way jokes go down, and how the characters interact is very authentic. To the point you almost one to join in and comment as if they going to look at you and laugh, tell you to shut up, or something like that.The Topic of Manhood, Friendship, and InnocenceIn the film, there are not real roles for women. Pretty much it is all about the friendships between men, loss of innocence, be it with sex or violence, and what it means to be a man. We see this in a few ways. The first, and unfortunate way, deals with the boys having sex or getting with a young woman. Like many a coming of age film, sex is a symbol of manhood but, unfortunately, the film is an example of toxic masculinity. Perhaps making you wonder why this is a highlight? Well, because in the movie you see how such a thing forms.Take Flaco's little brother, or son, Jeremiah. From what it seems, Flaco takes that kid with him everywhere. Be it him going to a party to get high, drunk, and maybe feel up on a shorty, or to watch people ride around in cars. The boy, who can't be older than 10, observes, absorbs, and with him singing a lyric, seeing how comfortable he is around guns and violence, you see how Flaco has normalized that in his life. Making it so, even at such a young age, his innocence is gone. Naivety about the life Flaco lives is not only non-existent but discouraged. Manhood is presented as taking what you want, defending and keeping what's yours, and violence is a norm and not a last resort.CriticismAin't One Positive Depiction of Black Women in the Whole MovieWhen you watch the credits you'll see the name of a few girls like Alexa and Mercedez, but will have a hell of a time trying to remember who the hell was that. Reason being, women solely play the role of someone to mess around with in this movie. If they aren't grinding up on someone, they are as ghetto as possible. If they aren't in the process of having sex, they are about to. I mean, to my surprise we didn't end up seeing a crackhead saying they would suck one of the leads members for a dollar.But to add insult to injury, we don't even get to see Brandon's, Albert's, or Rico's mom. The only mother, much less woman, who isn't problematic is Brandon's grandma and she has a non-speaking role and is bed ridden.On The FenceIt's All About SneakersIt all really boils down to sneakers. If you dig deeper you can find other things to note and talk about but, no matter how you look at it, Brandon's passage to being the local definition of a man came from some sneakers. Of which, so much nonsense happens that, paired with the negative depiction of women, it makes it hard to say, without pause, you like this film in such a politically correct world.Overall: Mixed (Home Viewing)

"Kicks" (2016 release; 80 min.) brings the story of Brandon, a 14 or 15 yr. old kid in "East Bay", as we are reminded at the beginning of the movie. Brandon has a hard time fitting in, dreaming that "sometimes I wish I had a spaceship", so that he wouldn't have to worry about being chased or fitting in. He pines for Air Jordan sneakers (a/k/a "kicks"). After saving up and earning extra dough selling candy, Brandon is finally able to buy the much coveted black-and-red Air Jordans, but within a day, he is savagely ambushed and robbed by a gang in the hood. Brendan is determined to somehow get his sneakers back... To tell you more of the plot would ruin your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut from writer-director Justin Tipping. He brings us an insight look at the African-American culture in the Oakland/Bay area, where image and perception apparently are paramount. To not have decent sneakers is to not belong. To not be a 'tough' guy is to be dismissed by girls and guys alike. BEWARE: the movie does not hold back on anything, not in the least the violence that apparently is rampant in those circles. The ambush of Brandon, where a gang robs him of his newly-purchased Air Jordans, is vicious and repugnant. It almost made me leave the theater. Then a strange thing happened: Brandon's quest to regain his sneakers becomes a journey towards self-discovery that becomes mesmerizing, aided along the way by his imaginary/alter ego spaceman who guides him when he desperately needs help. Whether the movie accurately reflects what life is like in that segment of the African-American community, or simply stereotypes it, I couldn't possibly tell you, but what I saw displayed on the big screen made me shake my head on more than one occasion. It's possible, if not likely, that these things are simply incomprehensible for a middle-class white guy like myself..."Kicks" debuted with critical acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. It opened this weekend without any pre-release fanfare or advertising at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (only 2 people besides myself), and I can't see this playing very long in the theater. If you are in the mood for a tough "boys in the hood" tale that exposes/clarifies the importance of sneakers and other bling, this might just be the movie for you, be it in the theater, on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.