Blindspotting follows Collin, a convicted felon with three days left on his yearlong parole sentence. Struggling to make a new life for himself, he begins to re-evaluate his relationship with his volatile best friend.
Making their feature debut, real-life friends Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in Blindspotting while first time feature director Carlos López Estrada helmed the indie. For a first film, their work is commendable and competent. Rarely anything more, rarely anything less. Estrada admittedly is able to effectively draw out some powerful moments of intensity as a result of Collin witnessing an instance of police brutality. Collin's haunted by what he's seen, and Estrada authenticates that sense of paranoia and post traumatic stress remarkably well. It's a shame he wasn't able to reign in everything else because the film's very messy from a narrative perspective.
Casal and Diggs took it upon themselves to address a multitude of socio-policial issues, but they ultimately are overwhelmed by the task and lose sight of their end goal. Instead of presenting a fair, balanced stance on the issue of police brutality, Blindspotting finds itself slanted towards one side and offers no concession for the opposing point-of-view. To Casal and Diggs, it seems that good cops are a myth and they're all out for blood. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, police brutality certainly is a concern for minorities in our country. I'm not refuting that, but presenting all police as the enemy won't make matters any better. It just adds more fuel to the fire.
Otherwise, I thought certain things clunkily fell into place a little too conveniently and it was bothersome that particular plot lines weren't resolved at the end. I was also quite irritated by the treatment of the ensemble. Collin's ex-girlfriend Val is positioned as antagonistic and high-maintenance for wanting Collin to reform himself when her viewpoint's totally valid, and that annoyed me to no end. Collin's then depicted as having bettered himself, but a scene towards the end of the third act doesn't do his character any favors in that regard. At least Mile was consistently a messed up human being... With a grill and poor temperament, he's an unruly punk that will test your patience as a viewer.
The whole "street" lifestyle was eye-rolling and cringe-inducing to watch as a matter of fact. There were just several instances were I was completely disinterested with anything happening onscreen as questionable behavior grew more and more tiresome to see. Over time, I just became more indifferent to the film as a whole.
As I touched on earlier, I can at least concede that Blindspotting is competently made in regards to its technical attributes... It just has a much sloppier screenplay than most are currently willing to acknowledge. If I were to commend the film on anything else though, it would be that the human interactions feel incredibly genuine thanks to some exceptional performances. Daveed Diggs, in particular, really sells his character's inner turmoil and spirited personality. Meanwhile, Rafael Casal is fittingly downright scummy as Miles. Casal's real-life rapport with Diggs is reflected in the bond between their characters, and that in-turn lends more credibility to their friendship. Elsewhere, Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, and Ethan Embry are worth mentioning for sincere supporting roles.
Ironically, I couldn't help but see two things at once while watching Blindspotting. On one hand, it commendably tackles the racial injustices in America through socio-polical commentary. On the other hand, Blindspotting's viewpoint on the issue is so skewed that it treats its own perspective as infallible. The filmmakers were far more concerned with making a statement than a film.
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