I will say as someone who takes a lot of pride in seeing many films, I was surprised that I had never seen this one. Given this, I was able to go into the film with an open mind. I was met with a well written film that was both thought provoking but also fun to follow. Filled with a talented cast, this film hit the full emotional spectrum, and will leave just about anyone satisfied having watched it.

The Acting/Writing was solid, with Larenz Tate, Keith David, and Chris Tucker all providing good performances. From the funny moments given by Chris Tucker, and even Keith David’s faux leg providing hilarious scenes, to Larenz Tate succumbing to the metaphorical devil on the shoulder in the closing act of the film, this film was enjoyable to watch. Personally, I found Anthony Curtis’s motivations to be confusing at times, which is partly why I gave this film a 8/10. But the writing showing the PTSD experienced by his friends post the Vietnam war was well done.

The Visual Effects in this film were solid. Nothing really revolutionary for the time, but well done, and clean with all but 1 exception with the closing act of the film having a slight visual error during the explosion scene where you can see the pole used to pop the car into the air. But otherwise, they did an good job and I was not disappointed with this category.

For my Casting/Set Design/Costumes and my Film Score categories, I give this film 9/10’s for each respectively. The movie did a great job of creating the atmosphere and feel of the late 1960s and early 1970’s. At no point did I feel like they missed the mark here, and like I previously mentioned, Larenz Tate, Keith David, and Chris Tucker all gave great performances. The Film Score was pretty fantastic. The music of this time period is fantastic and they chose an excellent score. The reason I cannot give it a 10/10 for the score is due to 2 factors. The music didn’t really become a factor until the 2nd third of the film, and to me, there is no music that makes this particular film stand out on its own. No song that I would immediately associate with the film.

For my Impact score I gave 7/10 because for me, while this film was enjoyable, it didn’t quite give me that sticking power that a truly great film gives. I will likely never watch this film again, and if I do, it won’t be off of my recommendation. There are more impactful films than Dead Presidents (1995) in its own genre, let alone across other genres. If you haven’t watched the film, and you have a free evening, you won’t be disappointed by this film. But, I also feel that most people would agree that there are better films out there.

– Josh