Absolutely brilliant

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Writer and director Aimee Lagos wanted to make an urban drama about young people in Georgia but something went wrong with an almost not developed script and poor execution. It can easily be compared to the film Crash but in my opinion it is shown up by the more superior Boyz n the Hood which was made in the early 1990s, especially as how ordinary young black characters are dealt by the police still has not changed.The film shifts back and forth between a carjacking and its aftermath to the events leading up to it. Two female college students, one of them studying law become victims of the car jacking.Two young males, one black who is a high school student wanting to escape from his gang culture environment and his white friend, from a broken home, uneducated and want to be accepted by his black friends end up being the perpetrators.The 96 minutes of the title seems to relate to the carjacking until one of the character's arrives at the hospital and not the length of the film which actually feels rather long in itself with its expletive filled script. The extent of the swearing is off putting as you feel its trying to disguise a weak script which only livens up at the conclusion of the film when one of the females gets to meet one of the attacker's again.Thankfully the plus points is the acting, David Oyolewo has a minor but important part. At least they do their best to sketch out their roles.

There is no doubt that director Aimee Lagos has talent and she may go on to bigger things. Some moments of this film are exciting and others are moving. The actors, though largely unknown, give capable performances. Based on a true story, this is a film about how four lives come together in a dangerous carjacking which spirals out of control, even for the perpetrators. The time sequence jumps back and forth and while it's easy enough to follow, it gets irritating. It's also filled with thoroughly unpleasant people and drops the f-bomb repeatedly, and although it's probably an accurate portrayal of the big city, it's hard to care too much even for the innocent victims. Besides the constant flashbacks and flash-forwards, the worst part of this film seems determined to wallow in squalor. There are also a lot of early scenes which contribute little to the central story and clutter the film. The last half hour of the film is the best, when the film no longer has flashbacks and flash-forwards. I was disappointed even though there were moments that were well-done and compelling.

Four kids all are linked together in the midst of a carjacking gone fubar, we move between this and flashbacks to the lives of the various people involved in a vain attempt to find reason. It can't all their fault, they must be a product of society. Or racist cops. Or whatever other P.C scapegoat we can point a finger at. We've all seen this type of movie a million times over and much better than first-timer Aimee Legos can seem to muster in her freshman offering. Spike Lee she is decidedly not. However the acting is serviceable enough even if the story is blatantly entrenched in a liberal whit guilt mindset.My Grade: D

What's wrong with the ratings these days?96 minutes is a failed attempt to make a film.What you should expect: Ridiculous character behavior, Clichés all over the place, Repeats, artificial drama, bad soundtrack.If you would like to see a film using this approach of story telling, go and take a look at Crash 2004. Did the producers actually think about the audience? People go the movies to enjoy their time, pay money and then they get this? This garbage. This movie is not entertaining, which is OK, if it at least would have other values, something like a message etc. But no, it doesn't have anything which hasn't already been shown or said in a better way. This one is just a waste of time and as always, don't believe the ratings, this one will end up at 4/10.I gave it a 1/10 because I wanted my time back after seeing this, the worst thing which can happen to a film.