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Kingdom Come
Fox // PG // September 18, 2001
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
In the past 10 years, movies made for specific audiences have gained success and become a bigger part of the marketplace. Films for the African-American marketplace that portray characters who are professionals, caring and hard-working instead of criminals and other stereotypes have come out in greater numbers. Some of the best of the genre have offered stellar performances, superb writing and terrific direction. "Soul Food" remains the best recent example - a beautifully acted drama with touching moments and plot elements that different races and generations could relate to.
Yet, some of the films since "Soul Food" have not been as interesting, including "Kingdom Come", a comedy/drama that offers so many different acting styles and genres fighting for space that the resulting picture is a bit of a noisy mess. Based upon the play "Dearly Departed" by David Dean Bottrell and Jessie Jones, the film starts off with the passing of Woodrow "Bud" Slocumb, who was definitely not a well-liked individual, especially by his wife (Whoopi Goldberg), who wants to put "mean and surly" on his tombstone.
After the passing, nearly every memeber of the family large and small are called together for a reunion before the funeral. There's former alcholic Ray (LL Cool J), his younger brother (Anthony Anderson), who's married to a shrill diva (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and a bunch of rowdy children. Another woman has to deal with her son that plans to slide through life and there's also the Reverend, who makes some unwise dietary choices before the funeral starts.
The film is a mixture of different acting styles. Whoopi Goldberg and LL Cool J provide fine, subtle performances, but often get overshadowed by many of the other actors, who cross the line into over-the-top. Hardly any of the characters are defined enough to get us to care about them in the film's short 94 minutes, while dramatic scenes that could have been effective are ruined by sudden bursts (literally) of bathroom humor. None of it really matters though, as the predictable conflicts wrap themselves up neatly before the movie's over.
The film could have done a good deal more with the elements involved. LL Cool J has proven himself to be a terrific actor who shows signs that he can improve even further. There's also a superb line-up right behind him; Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Vivica Fox and others. Yet, the film feels as if it went before the cameras before everything could be smoothed out. The result feels rather sitcom-ish; not very funny, nor very dramatic.
"Kingdom Come" originated as a play; after watching it, it's obvious that the translation from stage-to-screen really didn't succeed. There's moments here and there that work, but it veers so wildly between tones in both performances and story that it begins to fall apart.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Kingdom Come" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by 20th Century Fox. The transfer stands out as one of the better recent efforts from the studio. The cinematography of Francis Kenny ("She's All That") is gorgeous, with beautiful golden hues bathing many of the scenes. Colors looked superb, appearing beautifully saturated and crisp, with no smearing or other problems.
Sharpness and detail are generally quite good. A few scenes appear as if they were shot with an intentional slight softness, but otherwise, the movie appears well-defined and crisp, occasionally presenting scenes with pleasing depth to the image. Minor flaws infrequently appeared - I noticed a couple of instances of very minor pixelation, but saw no edge enhancement or print flaws. Flesh tones looked natural and accurate, as well. A very nice transfer from Fox.
SOUND: The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is not particularly compelling. The great majority of the film is essentially mono, focusing particularly on dialogue, with little ambient detail. Surround use comes up lightly with the music, but that's about all that they come into play for. Audio quality was strong, as the music came through warmly and crisply, while dialogue sounded especially natural and clean.
MENUS:: Nicely animated menus - the opening clip that leads into the main menu is a bit lengthy, but navigation is easy and the colorful menus provide a nice intro.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Doug McHenry, who provides a decently interesting look at the making of the picture. The majority of the track is devoted to two issues - technical discussion complimenting the film's visual look and cinematographer Francis Kenny's work or praising the actors involved. There's a few moments though, where the director seems to feel the need to explain what makes a couple of scenes funny. I found this track occasionally mildly interesting, but it's not one of the better commentaries I've listened to lately.
Also: Short promotional featurette, trailer, TV spots and music video for Kirk Franklin's "Thank You".
Final Thoughts: "Kingdom Come" takes a cast of extremely talented actors, but really doesn't do a great deal in providing anything interesting for any of them to work with. Fox has provided a fine DVD though; audio/video quality are quite good and there's a few supplements that nicely round out the package. Those who are already fans of the picture will be pleased with the DVD.
In the past 10 years, movies made for specific audiences have gained success and become a bigger part of the marketplace. Films for the African-American marketplace that portray characters who are professionals, caring and hard-working instead of criminals and other stereotypes have come out in greater numbers. Some of the best of the genre have offered stellar performances, superb writing and terrific direction. "Soul Food" remains the best recent example - a beautifully acted drama with touching moments and plot elements that different races and generations could relate to.
Yet, some of the films since "Soul Food" have not been as interesting, including "Kingdom Come", a comedy/drama that offers so many different acting styles and genres fighting for space that the resulting picture is a bit of a noisy mess. Based upon the play "Dearly Departed" by David Dean Bottrell and Jessie Jones, the film starts off with the passing of Woodrow "Bud" Slocumb, who was definitely not a well-liked individual, especially by his wife (Whoopi Goldberg), who wants to put "mean and surly" on his tombstone.
After the passing, nearly every memeber of the family large and small are called together for a reunion before the funeral. There's former alcholic Ray (LL Cool J), his younger brother (Anthony Anderson), who's married to a shrill diva (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and a bunch of rowdy children. Another woman has to deal with her son that plans to slide through life and there's also the Reverend, who makes some unwise dietary choices before the funeral starts.
The film is a mixture of different acting styles. Whoopi Goldberg and LL Cool J provide fine, subtle performances, but often get overshadowed by many of the other actors, who cross the line into over-the-top. Hardly any of the characters are defined enough to get us to care about them in the film's short 94 minutes, while dramatic scenes that could have been effective are ruined by sudden bursts (literally) of bathroom humor. None of it really matters though, as the predictable conflicts wrap themselves up neatly before the movie's over.
The film could have done a good deal more with the elements involved. LL Cool J has proven himself to be a terrific actor who shows signs that he can improve even further. There's also a superb line-up right behind him; Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Vivica Fox and others. Yet, the film feels as if it went before the cameras before everything could be smoothed out. The result feels rather sitcom-ish; not very funny, nor very dramatic.
"Kingdom Come" originated as a play; after watching it, it's obvious that the translation from stage-to-screen really didn't succeed. There's moments here and there that work, but it veers so wildly between tones in both performances and story that it begins to fall apart.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Kingdom Come" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by 20th Century Fox. The transfer stands out as one of the better recent efforts from the studio. The cinematography of Francis Kenny ("She's All That") is gorgeous, with beautiful golden hues bathing many of the scenes. Colors looked superb, appearing beautifully saturated and crisp, with no smearing or other problems.
Sharpness and detail are generally quite good. A few scenes appear as if they were shot with an intentional slight softness, but otherwise, the movie appears well-defined and crisp, occasionally presenting scenes with pleasing depth to the image. Minor flaws infrequently appeared - I noticed a couple of instances of very minor pixelation, but saw no edge enhancement or print flaws. Flesh tones looked natural and accurate, as well. A very nice transfer from Fox.
SOUND: The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is not particularly compelling. The great majority of the film is essentially mono, focusing particularly on dialogue, with little ambient detail. Surround use comes up lightly with the music, but that's about all that they come into play for. Audio quality was strong, as the music came through warmly and crisply, while dialogue sounded especially natural and clean.
MENUS:: Nicely animated menus - the opening clip that leads into the main menu is a bit lengthy, but navigation is easy and the colorful menus provide a nice intro.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Doug McHenry, who provides a decently interesting look at the making of the picture. The majority of the track is devoted to two issues - technical discussion complimenting the film's visual look and cinematographer Francis Kenny's work or praising the actors involved. There's a few moments though, where the director seems to feel the need to explain what makes a couple of scenes funny. I found this track occasionally mildly interesting, but it's not one of the better commentaries I've listened to lately.
Also: Short promotional featurette, trailer, TV spots and music video for Kirk Franklin's "Thank You".
Final Thoughts: "Kingdom Come" takes a cast of extremely talented actors, but really doesn't do a great deal in providing anything interesting for any of them to work with. Fox has provided a fine DVD though; audio/video quality are quite good and there's a few supplements that nicely round out the package. Those who are already fans of the picture will be pleased with the DVD.
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