First Take: The Hate U Give- a young adult adaptation, actually made for young adults

SYNOPSIS:

Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what’s right.

97% on Rotten Tomatoes. A big standard for a young adult film, considering the quality of similar films in the past. But aside from a few quibbles, George Tillman Jr’s take on the 2016 novel is pretty damn good, and something a lot of the film’s target audience will enjoy.

Tillman Jr works to a script by Audrey Wells, that remains very much identical to the book by Angie Thomas, and with this combination, the film takes a while to get going with the exposition side of things, but once that first half an hour is done, the film really plays to it’s strengths, coming in at 2 hours 12 minutes, with a sense of pacing that just about makes the film bearable to watch considering its timely narrative. It’s shot well by Mihai Malaimare Jr, and Dustin O’Halloran’s score is a Ronseal job- it just does what it says on the tin.

But the performances are what really earned that 97% rating. This film is quite rightly the time for Amandla Stenberg to shine (literally, she is playing a character called Starr), as her performance is just outstanding- it may not get much awards attention, but this is one of the best pieces of work by any performer so far this year. Supporting her is a good cast, that includes Common, Regina Hall, Anthony Mackie and Russell Hornsby- all of them are able to bring this film to life in the sensitive manner that it deserves to be told with. It’s not the strongest overall film considering the current slate that cinemas are offering, but this is a film academics will be writing about without question.

THE VERDICT

It’s not the perfect film fellow critics have been making it out to be, but The Hate U Give does exactly what it needs to- tell its story in the best way it can. And it does it well, as a friend of mine who joined me for the film was literally in tears at points. However, this is not a film for those who want escapism in their cinema.

RATING- 4/5