Movie Review: Antwone Fisher

Antwone Fisher: Torgo approves

The premise of this movie, 'young man in Navy with troubled past is led down path to redemption by psychiatrist and cute girl,' is dull and cliched (see: Good Will Hunting).

But "Antwone Fisher" still manages to be good. Denzel Washington, as it turns out, isn't a bad director. There's just enough style to his directing to give the sometimes leaden story some pull. Also, Derek Luke is very strong in the title role. Lost's Walt plays the young Fisher, and he's not bad either.

There's great sincerity at the heart of the movie, compensating for some weak writing early on. As the emotion builds, the writing improves. By the final acts, the writing is excellent.

To hear Fisher himself describe how the movie came to be in the extras, it's amazing to believe he could convince anybody to produce his story. He's very soft-spoken and, aside from not being able to type, he didn't know anything about writing, from character development to plot arc.

That may explain why so many elements in the film aren't original, but Fisher admitted writing was therapy for him, excising his demons, and his demons were vile enough to make a compelling movie.