WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I can’t out and out say that I am a fan of Andre 3000 musically as I haven’t sat down and simply listened to his or Outkast’s music outside of the songs that were commercially released like Hey Ya!, which will be a party favourite at any time. I always find it crazy that he has been around since the 90s, still making music and it’s the originality of a group like Outkast that I personally feel is missing from mainstream music these days. Anyway, we aren’t here to talk music are we…
Revolver
I’m going to start this paragraph by being completely honest with you all – I don’t know about anyone else but I did not understand this film! The saving grace however is, I actually think Andre was pretty good. OK, I don’t exactly rate Jason Statham as an actor so in my eyes he didn’t really have much competition but in his opening scene there was a serene quality to the way he spoke, so at first you actually trust his character. After a while, I started to wonder if his character was even real – if anything that was happening had actually been real for that matter, but that’s no surprise when you find out that it’s based on something spawned from the mind of Luc Besson. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this film and that, my friends, is one thing I do not like!
Battle in Seattle
It’s always interesting when a film is referred to as being “loosely-based” on a true story. The film opens with words stating that it is based on true events but characters have been fictionalised, which makes sense considering the number of people that would have been arrested during the real “Battle in Seattle” in 1999. Andre takes on the role of Django, one of the many protestors that descended on the WTO (World Trade Organisation) Ministerial Conference on 30th December. Even though he is pointed out as prime target by the police, I started to think that Django was only going to pop up here and there throughout the 105 minute run time and have very few lines. However, as the film goes on, his character gradually seems to get bigger as he is the one interviewed by the press first instead of Jay and it is Django we see with the megaphone talking to the armed police. I believe he, along with the other main protestor characters (Jay, Lou and Sam) are all based upon a mix of different people and walks of life that attended these protests. Outside of his role, as I know that is the main point of me including this film, I really enjoyed the way they merged real footage with the film itself, especially as it seemed to be graded in way that meant the former didn’t stand out.
Hollywood Homicide
I can’t decide if this film is supposed to be taken seriously or not, because I definitely struggled to. Especially as Harrison Ford’s character seems to prioritize his estate agency over the case and K.C Calden, played by Josh Hartnett, has Axel F as his ringtone (maybe someone fancies himself as Axel Foley). Unfortunately, I had to put up with this ridiculousness for a whole 36 minutes until Andre showed his face as Silk Brown. He only appears for a minute maximum and it’s not exactly a far stretch for him to be playing a musician, considering his day job. Feels a little cheesy that he ends up also being a school friend of Calden’s but then that’s slightly in keeping with the rest of this film. If I’m honest, that whole scene feels unnecessary, considering nothing seems to come of K.C requesting intel from Silk and his friends in exchange for getting the script scene doesn’t actually come to anything.
Honorary Mentions
I deliberately avoided using Idlewild as part of this article as, considering a whole album was released connected to this film, I figured there was a likelihood some singing would be involved. I also steered away from Four Brothers as, even though I really like the film, I had already discussed it when writing about Mark Wahlberg. I had genuinely thought he had stopped acting to focus on music again, however he returned to the silver screen again for High Life in 2018 as well as Showing Up and White Noise in 2022.
