#Life movie martin free

Meanwhile, Rick Baker's makeup gradually and convincingly ages the two men, who do a skillful job of aging their voices and manners.Īll of this time, of course, they dream of escaping. But it doesn't work that way, and life goes on, decade after decade, while the real world is only hearsay.ĭemme has two nice touches for showing the passage of time: Prison inmates are shown simply fading from the screen, and in the early 1970s Claude gets to drive the warden ( Ned Beatty) into nearby Greenville, where he sees hippie fashions and his first afro haircut.

#Life movie martin free

Bokeem Woodbine plays Can't Get Right, a retarded prisoner who hits a homer every time at the plate, and Ray and Claude become his managers, hoping to get a free ride out of prison when he's recruited by the Negro Leagues. The heart of the movie, however, takes place in prison, where after an early scene of hard physical labor, life settles down into baseball games, talent shows and even, at one point, a barbecue. The early scenes move well (although why was it necessary to send all the way to Mississippi for moonshine, when New York was awash in bootleg booze during Prohibition?). The cheat is found dead Claude and Ray are framed by the sheriff who actually killed him and given life in prison. The trip takes them into Jim Crow land, where Claude is outspoken and Ray more cautious in a segregated diner that serves 'white-only pie.'' Then they find the moonshiner, load the truck and allow themselves to get distracted by a local sin city, where Ray loses all his money to a cheat ( Clarence Williams III) and Claude goes upstairs with a good-time girl. They both find themselves in big trouble with Spanky, the club owner (Rick James), who is in the process of drowning Claude when Ray saves both their lives by talking them into a job: They'll drive a truck to Mississippi and pick up a load of moonshine. When was the last time that a movie made prison seem almost pleasant? 'Life'' opens in 1932 in a Harlem nightclub, with a chance encounter between a bank teller named Claude (Lawrence) and a pickpocket named Ray (Murphy). Murphy created the original story line, and Ted Demme ('The Ref'') follows his lead the result is a film that almost seems nostalgic about what must have been a brutal existence. And yet the more you think about it, the more peculiar the movie seems. The movie is ribald, funny and sometimes sweet, and well acted by Murphy, Lawrence and a strong supporting cast. 'Life Is Beautiful'' avoids it through comic inspiration, and 'Life'' by never quite admitting how painful its characters' lives must have been. It's an odd, strange film-a sentimental comedy with a backdrop of racism-and I kept thinking of 'Life Is Beautiful,'' another film that skirts the edge of despair. Overall, Life is pretty basic, and it's a familiar story, but any story can feel fresh again when it's told well.Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence age more than 50 years in 'Life,'' the story of two New Yorkers who spend their adult lives on a Mississippi prison farm because of some very bad luck. Even the creature is given credit for being clever - a worthy adversary. Plus, no one is an invincible hero stepping up to save the day. Generally, the movie avoids the kinds of cliches the genre routinely falls back on. No one wanders off alone to check something out, and no one splits up. Not only do they represent a diverse cross-section of cultures and sexes, but they're treated like smart people. It's not as dark and shadowy as the similar Alien, but the lights are used to interesting effect. In Life, director Daniel Espinosa glides his camera along the corridors of the satellite as if it, too, were weightless, and the crisp editing and the intense score provide plenty of nervous suspense. This sci-fi creature feature doesn't really do anything we haven't seen before, but its execution - including smooth camerawork and tense editing and music - makes it reasonably gripping.