Director: Mark Amin
Writer: Mark Amin, Pat Charles (Screenplay)
Starring: Dayo Okeniyi, Harry Lennix, James Cromwell, Mykelti Williamson, Bruce Dern, Kat Graham, Ben Robson, James Le Gros,
Plot: An escaped slave travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Based on the life story of Shields Green.
Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Emperor starts as we meet Shields Green (Okeniyi) a slave on a plantation, one which will see the owner treat them fairly, but his own reckless behavior will see him losing the plantation to a strict owner, one that will see Shields fight back against, needing to go on the run.
As Shields goes on the run, he finds himself meeting a host of outlaws along the way, some will help him, while Luke McCabe (Robson) has been assigned to hunt him down, with his journey going down in legend.
Thoughts on Emperor
Thoughts – Emperor is a story that show the story of Shields Green a legend that went from a slave to legend, with his journey for freedom being shown by who he meets along the way, with them giving him advice, help or guidance to make his life better for the future. When it comes to the number of stories about a slave escaping his plantation, we know we have countless stories that end in tragedy, while we do get some, the ones we get to learn about that the story will go down in legend. This is a story that does seem to gloss over the bigger moments, only focusing on the odd line from their meeting, rather than how much of an impact the moment will make. Dayo Okeniyi does a great job in the leading role, taking us on the journey, where we meet a host of huge names in the acting world, making the most of their limited screen time. This is one of the more important stories that does need to be told and learnt from.
Final Thoughts – Emperor is an important drama that could have put more focus on the bigger moments in Shields’ life, instead of glossing over them.
