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With the Scorsese boot camp of toughness in his resume, Leonardo DiCaprio is nowadays both a bona fide robust hero and a quality actor. In Edward Zwick's latest film, DiCaprio turns into an action star, leaving his familiar innocence behind, as Danny Archer, a Zimbabwean smuggler in search of a diamond hidden by Hounsou's fisherman in the civil war of Sierra Leone. Set in the 1990s, both leads are extremely powerful on screen, Leo in this Oscar-nominated role, has a distinct charm complimented by a military trained slickness as he desperately seeks his 'treasure'. Hounsou is breathtaking again in the same mould as his Gladiator (2000) performance, chipping in with the occasional humorous line whilst maintaining the dignity and seriousness of the situation the two characters and the whole country are experiencing. Jennifer Connelly does no wrong as Maddy an American journalist, and even though her subplot with DiCaprio may seem a little pointless to some, I can assure you that the narrative all comes together well in the end.
Zwick has done wonders with directing this film. The tale never drags, the actors are given enough time to portray respective characters and the account itself adequately, and Zwick allows the Danny/Solomon relationship to develop perfectly without getting sour or to an unnecessary point. All of the action sequences throughout the film remind me of Saving Private Ryan (1998) and with the Dolby surround in the cinema working overtime it's easy to see why the film has been nominated for two sound Academy Awards. The seriousness of the conflict diamond situation really hits home with the film's spot-on realism, and the insight into the 200,000 child soldiers in Africa is a well-documented and scary thought for the Western world's audience that ventures further than acceptable cultural relativism.
The summary
A great intriguing action thriller with a great ensemble cast dedicated to serious world problems of a moral, industrial and cultural nature.
