Keep ya head up: a "The Hate U Give" review
"The book is better than the movie": the classic argument most people will give someone when they say they're seeing the movie adaptation of a popular book. Some times the movie is better (I will stand by my opinion that Divergent and Paper Towns were better as movies). Some times it is most definitely the book (Where the Wild Things Are). But when both are equally solid, everything is a-okay.
That's why I'm happy to say that The Hate U Give movie was absolutely wonderful. I didn't get the chance to see this in theaters, but I really liked the book and knew this was going to be great. Starr's story is one that grabs you by the throat, showing off the struggles of being an African-American girl caught between two different worlds, especially following the death she witnesses first-hand by a white cop and his gun. George Tillman Jr.'s directing and Audrey Wells' screenplay were generally solid, but there were some choices that I didn't mesh with completely in this adaptation. But with great acting, beautiful cinematography, and an all-around well-directed and well-written gem, The Hate U Give is a true standout in the YA movie genre right now, a drama unafraid to present the very real picture of the fallout of another unarmed Black man getting shot and all the inter-community conflict and racism that gets kicked up as a result.
Starr Carter's life is made up of two worlds. One is her neighborhood, Garden Heights, a tight-knit Black community with an undercurrent of drug-dealing, which always seems to get profiled on the news. The second is her prep school, a predominately-white institution where she has her friends, her boyfriend, and an identity completely separate from where she grew up. She doesn't want anyone to peg her as the "stereotypical Black girl," that "girl from the hood." And although her life is okay, she feels trapped within playing the idea of what everyone wants from her while not fitting in despite that.
One weekend, a party reunites Starr with her childhood best friend Khalil. Someone shoots a gun during the party, sending them to Khalil's car so he can take her home. Following a brief re-connection, they get pulled over by a white police officer, and Starr witnesses Khalil get shot, all for pulling a hairbrush out of the driver's seat; from the officer's perspective, it looked like a gun. It seems like he worked with the king lords, a place Starr's father once was that got him arrested, and everyone wants to know what Khalil did to provoke the officer, what he did to get shot. But he wasn't the one to pull the trigger. Now Starr's caught between two worlds, one where she may be in future danger and one where the police officer is the victim. Will she be able to speak up and share her story? Or will she remain stuck, trapped between what the world wants of her and what she wants for herself?
Angie Thomas' original novel is one of the strongest YA debuts in recent memory, and I remember liking its strong characters, vivid voice, and rich setting that really brought Garden Heights to life. Yes, it was a longer read with a relaxed pace, but it worked with what the novel was trying to do. The movie replicates this very well, although some of the characters do get written out of the script and we lose some characterization. However, the characters who were deemed necessary really stood out, much like the novel, and everything felt tighter as a result.
The story remains just as gripping as I remember it. Audrey Wells' screenplay does a great job of translating the novel into film. Starr's character is one of the most compelling things I have ever seen, torn between her two different lives and wanting to know who and what she'll stand up for. I love how that carried through, particularly following Khalil's death when you can see her getting angrier and angrier every frame, quietly stewing right before she erupts and screams out her pain. Amanda Stenberg's performance is excellent, and to see her grow up from Rue to deliver something with as much gravity is truly inspiring. To watch her interact with both of her worlds, with doting boyfriend Chris and ignorant racist Hailey and Starr's family, is so incredible, and she carries this film on her capable shoulders. My biggest gripe with the novel, the frenetic ending, is fixed with a much more realistically timed climax that leads to one of the most exhilarating and heartbreaking scenes I have ever seen, and it ends up tying back into the theme of the film perfectly.
The other characters in this film are also played really well. Starr's parents are played with the kind of tough love and tender compassion that serves their opinions for Starr's life well (thank you, Regina Hall and Russell Hornsby). K. J. Apa's Chris was earnest and adorable both in his loving and frustrating ways (and I'm glad his hair wasn't that fluorescent orange), and I was incredibly impressed with Sabrina Carpenter's Hailey, how vicious her bite ended up being. King, the notorious drug dealer Anthony Mackie, granted us access to a more sympathetic side of King right before he drove into the absolutely threatening menace he turned out to be. And even though Algee Smiith's Khalil wasn't in the movie for too long, he did a good job, although I wish the script hadn't decided to amp up the romantic tension that had long dissolved between Khalil and Starr in the book. Oh well.
If there was a slightly weaker part of the film, the lighting shifts from Garden Heights to Williamson Prep (shadowy to this bright squeaky white-blue color) felt off in post, and George Tillman Jr.'s close-up shots were a little overused. But The Hate U Give is still an absolutely invigorating movie, taking the novel's brilliance and making it its own. Finally there's a film that not only holds up to its source novel but even exceeds it in some little ways. I'd definitely recommend watching this if you're up for a solid movie experience. It's available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and that 4K Ultra HD format I know nothing about, but you can also stream it on several sites. Whatever you do, it'll be worth your while.
