The Bang Bang Club

The Bang Bang Club is about half of a surprisingly compelling drama, as the film follows four photographers (Ryan Phillippe’s Greg Marinovich, Taylor Kitsch’s Kevin Carter, Frank Rautenbach’s Ken Oosterbroek, and Neels Van Jaarsveld’s Joao Silva), nicknamed the Bang Bang Club by their colleagues, working in war torn Africa, as they attempt to outshoot one another to land the best and most memorable pictures. Filmmaker Steven Silver does a nice job of initially drawing the viewer into this perilous world, as Phillippe’s character effectively stands as our surrogate (ie he’s new to the scene when the movie opens) and it does become increasingly difficult not to derive entertainment from his dangerous exploits. The conventional yet compelling atmosphere is perpetuated by the uniformly strong performances, as Phillippe and his cast mates become their respective characters to an impressive degree. The sporadic inclusion of unexpectedly stirring interludes (eg Greg photographs a fiery execution) only heightens the film’s extremely watchable atmosphere, yet there does reach a point at which it becomes impossible to shake the feeling that there’s simply not enough story here to sustain the movie’s almost two-hour running time. The decidedly repetitive nature of the narrative’s structure ultimately serves to hit the overlong vibe home, as it does become far too easy to predict just what’s going to happen next (ie the foursome head out on a dangerous assignment, followed by some downtime, embark on another gig, etc, etc). Silver’s less-than-fresh screenplay is most keenly reflected in the ongoing exploits of Kitsch’s character, as Kevin’s drug-fueled downfall is precisely the sort of thing we’ve seen time and time again in other, better movies. Such deficiencies aside, The Bang Bang Club is generally an interesting look at an almost ridiculously unsafe profession – with Phillippe’s thoroughly (and surprisingly) engaging performance elevating one’s interest on a consistent basis.

**1/2 out of ****