Plot
Martin Luther King and the civil rights marches of Selma, Alabama, that changed the United States for ever.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 6.2/10 (593 voted)
Critic's Score: 89/100
Director: Ava DuVernay
Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tim Roth
Storyline
The unforgettable true story chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay's "Selma" tells the story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.
Cast: Giovanni Ribisi -
Lee C. White
David Oyelowo -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Tim Roth -
George Wallace
Oprah Winfrey -
Annie Lee Cooper
Cuba Gooding Jr. -
Fred Gray
Carmen Ejogo -
Coretta Scott King
Martin Sheen -
Frank Minis Johnson
Tessa Thompson -
Diane Nash
Alessandro Nivola -
John Doar
Dylan Baker -
J. Edgar Hoover
Tom Wilkinson -
President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lorraine Toussaint -
Amelia Boynton
Common -
James Bevel
Niecy Nash -
Richie Jean Jackson
Keith Stanfield -
Jimmie Lee Jackson
Taglines:
One dream can change the world.
Country: UK, USA
Language: English
Release Date: 9 January 2015
Filming Locations: Marietta, Georgia, USA
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
After Lee Daniels left the project actor David Oyelowo campaigned for Ava DuVernay to take over as director. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 6/10
Selma tells the story of Martin Luther King as he organizes the
infamous marches during the height of the civil rights movement. To be
fair, Selma is a good film. It isn't a great film, but it is good.
David Oyelowo gives a great performance as MLK despite feeling like a
bit of a miscast but it isn't enough to sustain interest in his
character, which is shameful considering the great and brilliant man
that he is portraying. All in all, Oyelowo doesn't pack the punch that
we all want to see out of a MLK based film. At 122 minutes, this film
wallows in cheap drama surrounded by some serious heavyweight
performances, it creates an uneven balance between what is great and
what is mediocre. Actor Tim Roth does great work here in portraying the
ruthless and racist George Wallace. Roth delivers an evil performance
that will turn your stomach with every syllable that spews out of his
mouth. Roth does a great, outstanding job in making you hate him and I
definitely give him high praise in this film. Another stand out
performance is Carmen Ejogo, who portrays Coretta Scott King with such
honesty and velocity that she's hard to ignore. Ejogo's performance is
one that I continuously am thinking about even as I'm writing this. The
supporting cast is huge in this film, featuring Tom Wilkinson, Cuba
Gooding Jr, Giovanni Ribisi, Common and Oprah Winfrey. But just because
the star power is here, doesn't mean they're all good. Honestly, the
supporting cast outside of Tim Roth and Common are mediocre at best.
Oprah Winfrey delivers a performance that we've seen multiple times
over the course of her acting career. It is nothing new, especially
because it feels she is just rehashing the same performance from last
year's The Butler or from the much superior The Color Purple. Winfrey
serves as more of a distraction than anything else. Common is awesome
in this film in a small but crucial role to what Oyelowo's King wants
to achieve. Common proved before that he can act, but here, he proves
that he isn't just another rapper turned actor, he really delivers
force to this film with blunt and swift justice. The screenplay here is
Selma's downfall. Written by first time screenwriter, Paul Webb, it
really feels like Webb's first rodeo, making classic first time
mistakes between cheesy dialog and long drawn out scenes that, in
retrospect, serve little purpose to the film as a whole. Despite these
issues with the screenplay, it was in the most capable hands possible
for this film...Ava DuVernay. While there are major pacing issues with
the film, DuVernay directs this with a determined efficiency that oozes
out of every second of the film. While this can't save Selma from
falling casualty to a lot of cliché scenes and cheesy dialog, she does
make up for all of what's wrong with the film with a handful of great
performances and awesome cinematography. Overall, Selma is nowhere near
the Oscar contender that I wanted it to be nor is it the biopic that a
man as great as Martin Luther King, Jr deserves but Selma is a decent
film that reminds me more of Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" or Lee Daniels'
"The Butler" rather than last year's instant classic "12 Years a
Slave". It's a good movie, nothing more, nothing less.
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