Freedomland

Simmering racial tensions boil over with terrifying consequences in Freedomland, a gritty thriller based on the best-selling novel by Richard Price.

Unfortunately, the build-up to this explosion of pent-up emotion is rather pedestrian, despite the casting of Samuel L Jackson, who has never been one to deliver a quiet, introspective performance.

Adapted for the screen by Price himself, the film lacks any sense of urgency or suspense and when the plot eventually untangles itself, the final reel revelations are scant reward for almost two hours of insinuations.

Julianne Moore fails to anchor with her portrayal of an emotionally unstable mother, struggling to cope with the abduction of her four-year-old son.

Director Joe Roth demonstrates fleeting skill behind the camera, but fails to save the picture from the dull gloom.

New Jersey woman Brenda Martin (Moore) is discovered in a state of distress at Dempsy Medical Centre, claiming that an African-American carjacker stole her vehicle, with her beloved son Cody in the back seat.

Detective Lorenzo Council (Jackson) and his longtime partner Boyle (Forsythe) are assigned the case, and during the interrogation process, Lorenzo begins to suspect that Brenda might not be telling the truth.

Racial tensions within the Dempsy explode as the police begin an exhaustive search for the culprit, led by Brenda's hotheaded brother Detective Danny Martin (Ron Eldard), who hails from the neighbouring white-collar suburb of Gannon.

As the hours tick by, the situation deteriorates and Council is forced to make difficult choices.

When it was published in 1998, Freedomland attained bestseller status in America.

Something has evidently been lost in translation because it's difficult to believe that such turgid human drama, as projected on the big screen here, could sustain readers for 550-odd pages.