TL;DR - A pretty average movie with decent writing, a paper thin plot, and underdeveloped (but well acted) characters. However it is a fun movie to watch and you will enjoy yourself for the short 55 minute run time (probably more if you are a Childish Gambino fan like myself)
Plot - My biggest complaint with the movie as a whole. The plot in the movie is virtually non existent and just serves as a framework for events in the movie to happen the way they do. It boils down to Deni Maroon (Donald Glover) wants to throw a performance and the boss of the island (Nonso Anozie) doesn't want there to be one cause he doesn't want the people to miss a day of work. There feels like there is no conflict or any tension (which was probably what was intended) in the plot until around ¾ of the way into the movie where the movie takes a sizable risk that really does nothing in the grand scheme of the movie as it comes too late for it to have any repercussions on the plot. Overall the plot was pretty non existent and is the worst element of the film
Characters - All well acted and everyone looks like they're having a good time which translates into the actors having good chemistry with one another. All of them, excluding Donald Glover's character, are all painfully underdeveloped and it's hard to care for any of them other than Deni Maroon (Donald Glover). The main antagonist (Nonso Anozie) also has no real motivation against Deni and his reasoning is just plain stupid and irrational which makes his character pretty laughable. Kofi Novia (Rihanna) is the love interest of Deni and gets the most character development outside of Deni and although she is a large part of the story, she doesn't really do anything outside of being a plot device (and she barely is that). If anything I would have loved to see Deni and Kofi's relationship developed over more than 3 scenes in the movie. Deni Maroon (Donald Glover) gets all the development and is definitely a likeable protagonist, not much more to say about him. Yara Love (Letitia Wright) is Kofi's co-worker and serves no function in the story, best I can say about her is that Letitia looks like she's having a blast playing her in this movie.
Music - Well implemented and mixed well. Whether you like the songs in the movie comes down to personal taste (they're all part of Childish Gambino / Donald Glover's catalog of music, I won't spoil which ones). The instrumental in the background of some scenes however is great and fits the setting and tone of the movie perfectly; the best element of the movie in my opinion
Cinematography - Not much to say here, it's serviceable. However the film is presented with a weird aspect ratio that you may like or dislike
All other elements of the movie like the sound design and editing were all serviceable, nothing terrific but nothing too bad at all worth mentioning
Overall the movie works better in my opinion as an hour long music video, rather than a film as the plot and characters were either done poorly or were painfully average to the point where the music elements of the film were the shining components and show what this movie could have been with better film elements. With that being said it is most certainly a fun watch when you have an hour to kill. (5/ 10)
Plot - My biggest complaint with the movie as a whole. The plot in the movie is virtually non existent and just serves as a framework for events in the movie to happen the way they do. It boils down to Deni Maroon (Donald Glover) wants to throw a performance and the boss of the island (Nonso Anozie) doesn't want there to be one cause he doesn't want the people to miss a day of work. There feels like there is no conflict or any tension (which was probably what was intended) in the plot until around ¾ of the way into the movie where the movie takes a sizable risk that really does nothing in the grand scheme of the movie as it comes too late for it to have any repercussions on the plot. Overall the plot was pretty non existent and is the worst element of the film
Characters - All well acted and everyone looks like they're having a good time which translates into the actors having good chemistry with one another. All of them, excluding Donald Glover's character, are all painfully underdeveloped and it's hard to care for any of them other than Deni Maroon (Donald Glover). The main antagonist (Nonso Anozie) also has no real motivation against Deni and his reasoning is just plain stupid and irrational which makes his character pretty laughable. Kofi Novia (Rihanna) is the love interest of Deni and gets the most character development outside of Deni and although she is a large part of the story, she doesn't really do anything outside of being a plot device (and she barely is that). If anything I would have loved to see Deni and Kofi's relationship developed over more than 3 scenes in the movie. Deni Maroon (Donald Glover) gets all the development and is definitely a likeable protagonist, not much more to say about him. Yara Love (Letitia Wright) is Kofi's co-worker and serves no function in the story, best I can say about her is that Letitia looks like she's having a blast playing her in this movie.
Music - Well implemented and mixed well. Whether you like the songs in the movie comes down to personal taste (they're all part of Childish Gambino / Donald Glover's catalog of music, I won't spoil which ones). The instrumental in the background of some scenes however is great and fits the setting and tone of the movie perfectly; the best element of the movie in my opinion
Cinematography - Not much to say here, it's serviceable. However the film is presented with a weird aspect ratio that you may like or dislike
All other elements of the movie like the sound design and editing were all serviceable, nothing terrific but nothing too bad at all worth mentioning
Overall the movie works better in my opinion as an hour long music video, rather than a film as the plot and characters were either done poorly or were painfully average to the point where the music elements of the film were the shining components and show what this movie could have been with better film elements. With that being said it is most certainly a fun watch when you have an hour to kill. (5/ 10)
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