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Lady Ballers (2023)
A film so badly done it can't even hit its intended target.
It's a poorly produced, poorly acted film where the jokes are basically Conservative grievances communicated in a funny voice and/or with a funny face but nobody has the talent of Jim Carey to pull something like that off.
It's also tragically ironic that it targets trans people but wildly overshoots the mark and ends up being more of a denigration of women's sports in general than a film criticising the presence of trans women in sports. Perhaps that was the intention of the writers, but that would imply they had enough talent to pull off multiple intentions at the same.
Did anyone who blatantly gave this 10/10 because of the subject matter notice this? Unsurprisingly no.
It's also hard to only view this as a silly comedy when it was clearly made with hateful intent. It was made with the same attitude a bully has when telling jokes at the expense of their victims and if that's not a problem for you, well that says it all. Just an unpleasant experience all round.
Sound of Freedom (2023)
Relies on its premise to do the heavy lifting.
I didn't think I'd have to preface the review with this but apparently I do. A criticism of this film is not an endorsement of child trafficking. No reasonably minded adult would say you have to think Schindlers List is a good film in order to think the Holocaust was bad but this film has a different set of rules apparently.
The problem with this film is that beyond its compelling central message which, if we're being honest here, is an incredibly easy message to get behind. It's little more than a competently made, by-the-numbers thriller that is pretty boring in parts.
There are some good elements to it. The opening sequence, for example, is very well done and there are good performances from a lot of the supporting characters. Unfortunately, everything to do with the main character is underwhelming.
For example, the decision to quit his job and leave his family is treated as though it's not problematic in the slightest. Yes, it's for a very noble cause but suddenly deciding to leave your job and family will have an impact on your life. It's ironic that a film which focusses on children in the way it does reduces Tim's children to little more than a photograph he occasionally looks at. Surely the love for his own children should be part of what fuels him to do what he does, but apparently not? Mira Sorvino is also criminally underused.
Jim Caviezel's performance consists of one look which he has for most of the film and the character encounters very little conflict. There is a moment early in the film where he has to pretend to be a predator and one would think this would be incredibly difficult for someone who cares for children the way he does. This would have been a moment to REALLY show the conflict within the character but no, it just comes across as being incredibly easy for him to do.
The famous quote of the film, "God's children are not for sale" also doesn't make much sense in context. He is asked by someone why he's doing what he's doing. To which the response should have been, "because it's wrong to traffic children, why is that even a question?"
But I suppose it doesn't make for a good trailer line.
There's other big questions such as, what about the other children in the rebel camp?
In terms of its accuracy in its portrayal of anti-trafficking, it's also problematic. If you want a good breakdown of why, I suggest reading OpenDemocracy's article on the film as it'll break it down much better than I can on a film review.
An important piece of factual information that the film decided to leave out is that random kidnappings is actually the least likely way for a child to end up becoming trafficked. Most victims are sadly trafficked by people they know.
Perhaps one would say that it's harsh to be so critical of the film's accuracy but if the people who made this film are so insistent on their film being seen as an important step towards combatting child trafficking then it needs to be held accountable for how it portrays it.
Taken is an example of a film which touched upon the issue of sex trafficking but knew that it was ultimately, a silly action film at heart and didn't pretend to be otherwise. Sound of Freedom is, at heart, a standard thriller film but pretends it's an important piece of media accurately talking about the issue at the centre of it. And it isn't.