NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Dennis Hopper, Colors was a pretty candid cops versus robbers drama. I interpreted this film as three different races facing off with each other in the concrete jungle that is LA. The black and Mexican gangs are taking each other on. The white establishment mostly plays them against each other. Some race mixing does take place but inter-racial relationships (like the one between Penn and Alonso) do not really work out in this violent scenario. The film does not delve too deep into why young black and Mexican youths turn to crime. It does not really try to take a political stance or anything. The film's message seems to be that - well, there are these criminals and they need to be eliminated in the most effective way possible. The joke about the two bulls that Duvall tells Penn and then Penn tells the rookie cop in the end seems to emphasize this message.The whole rookie cop (Sean Penn) clashing with the older mature cop (Robert Duvall) aspect of the film was a bit trite and could have been avoided. The two characters were not very well fleshed out or anything. Frankly, the lives of the gang members belonging to the Bloods and the Crips were more interesting than the interactions between Penn and Duvall. Penn and Duvall's characters were simply not interesting enough. This really affected the film a great deal. This film was nowhere as good as Easy Rider or Out of the Blue, Dennis.Best Regards, Pimpin. (6/10)

Predrag Dennis Hopper has always been a talent, both in front and behind the camera. "Colors" could only be handled by the likes of an independent spirit like Hopper: It's tough, brutal, no watered down studio gloss, no techno effects.Both actors bring more depth to their clichéd roles than might be expected, playing off each other surprisingly well, even in moments where they are given little more to do than react. But "Colors" offers no real answers to anything. The cops are presented mostly as well-armed zookeepers, while the gang members, blessed with youth and health but not much brains, run violently about, making the story mostly a series of aimless confrontations. Art imitating life? Maybe... This allows an ending, where the now older policeman repeats an old joke to a newer one.Why do people form gangs? It's a form of socialization or group support. In some other places it could be the volunteer fire department (a replacement for the long-forgotten militia) or a church or social club. No mention of ethnic grouping, more likely in some other places. This movie does not explain why they live there or do not move away. All in all, its an average story that is somewhat educational in its characters.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

SnoopyStyle Young brash officer Danny McGavin (Sean Penn) is newly teamed up with old veteran officer Bob Hodges (Robert Duvall). They patrol the gang infested neighborhoods of East L.A. between the Bloods and the Crips as well as the Latino gangs. McGavin is hot for Louisa (María Conchita Alonso). While McGavin is itching to make arrests, Hodges tries to stay in touch with the gangs. The duo gets into the middle of a complicated gang battle.Director Dennis Hopper is trying to bring some sort of gritty realism and stereotypes to this Hollywood construct. All the 80s gang stereotypes are here but it's done well. There are some great minority actors. In addition to Penn and Duvall, they form wide range of colors to give a wide swath of life in the streets. It's wild and random as it paves the way for other gangster rap movies of its kind in the 90s and its accompanying cop drama. Heck this is years before 'Boyz n the Hood'. It's probably the first time a lot of this gang inner workings is seen on screen. It's the first time I noticed somebody being beaten into a gang. Looking back, the stereotypes and the lingo can make this look dated but that time has come and gone. The movie is bound to look dated.

chaos-rampant This is an early attempt at what the Japanese called in the 70's to describe movies that dealt with the yakuza, a 'jitsuroku' movie. A 'true account' about crime and life in the streets and how violence ripples through the social surface. It seems a little stale now, but only because the same clichés were repeated elsewhere, probably because true to begin with. But whereas the Japanese often cast actual yakuzas in their films, Noboru Ando for example was a yakuza underboss turned famous actor, here we get Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. They have some chemistry, one playing a James Dean wild child who always fusses about his hair, the other playing a snarling Robert DeNiro with a good heart, but they go a long way to ruin whatever attempts at stark realism.Which was a limited prospect to begin with. The various gangbangers look a short step away from the cartoonish punks that populate the Death Wish films. Actors dressed up as hoodlums. It doesn't help that Don Cheadle plays the gang leader.The first half is enjoyable for what it is, a buddy cop romp through the barrios where now and then we stop to mingle with suspect characters. By the end however, so many unimaginative scenarios have piled upon it in so little visual space to breathe that it doesn't matter much who lives or dies.