Life of a King (FILM REVIEW)
Life of a King
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Ex-Con Opens Chess Club for At-Risk Kids in Ghetto-Based Biopic
Eugene
Brown (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) was
so worried about returning to his neighborhood in inner-city Washington, DC
after serving 17 years for bank robbery that he shared his concern with his
cellmate Searcy (Dennis Haysbert). The wise, old elder responded by making an
analogy between life and the game of chess amounting to the simple suggestion “Take
care of the king.”
He also
handed Eugene a
chess piece, hoping it might serve as a constant reminder to avoid trouble by employing
fundamental game strategy. And that practical piece of advice would come in
handy, especially since landing employment would turn out to be quite a
challenge, given his criminal record.
But rather
than break the law again for a quick buck, Eugene displayed the patience to wait until
he found a legit job as a janitor. Working at the same high school his children
had attended, he was afforded an opportunity to redeem himself when asked by
the principal (LisaGay Hamilton) to monitor detention, too.
Instead of
just having the students stand at the blackboard and write, “I will not be late
for class” or “I will not forget my homework” 50 times, Eugene came up with the inspired idea of
teaching them how to play chess each afternoon. Soon, he founded a chess club as
a regular afterschool activity and viable alternative to the gangsta ways so
many of the troubled youth found attractive.
Meanwhile, Eugene needed to mend
fences with his estranged offspring, college coed Katrina (Rachae Thomas), and
black sheep Marcus (Jordan Calloway), a juvenile jailbird following in his
father’s footsteps. That proves easier said than done since the absentee-dad
wasn’t around for either’s formative years.
Written and
directed by Jake Goldberger (Don McKay), Life of a King is a warts-and-all biopic
based on the downfall and resurrection of the real Eugene Brown. As raw and
realistic as it is predictable and cliché-ridden, this modern morality play does
at least drive home a pertinent message for adolescents in the targeted
demographic.
A Sunday school-style parable which
makes very effective use of chess mastery as a metaphor for negotiating the perilous
gauntlet of possible ghetto pitfalls.
Very Good
(2.5 stars)
Rated PG-13
for drug use, violent images and mature themes
Running time: 100 minutes
Distributor: Millennium
Entertainment
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