Fences Movie Review

Fences (2016)

Rent Fences on Amazon Video
Written by: August Wilson (screenplay by), August Wilson (based on his play "Fences")
Directed by: S. Craig Zahler
Starring:  Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Mykelti Williamson
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer 

Plot
A working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.

Verdict
This is a character study of an embittered man, upset at the world for the racial discrimination he's experience. With a character like this, you need Denzel to play him to retain some amount of likability, because this guy takes out a lot of his frustration on his family.
It's based on a play and despite most of the movie taking place in the yard, the dialog is sharp and fast, keeping it lively. Denzel does a great job creating this frustrated character.
The writing is great from dialog to pacing, and even how this tells the story. It's confidently written.
Watch it.

Review
You can tell this is based on a play with characters remaining in one location and lots of talking. The dialog is quick and good. Denzel, as Troy, sells this. He's fun to watch, and the movie quickly builds varying dynamics between the characters. It starts out fun with Troy joking with his best friend Bono, trying to get Bono to agree with him, but this gets heavy. Troy doesn't have a great relationship with his son Lyons. We see Troy is overbearing and bitter about everything. He claims he can do everything and refuses to hear otherwise. He's one of those, back in my day everything was much more difficult. While racial discrimination was certainly worse, he refuses to even give his son a chance on his dream to play football. Is it he's afraid of the struggle his son will face or does he not want his son to eclipse Troy's achievements.

This is an engrossing character study. Denzel is inherently charismatic, but he plays a character that isn't a good person. It's a strange clash that's almost a trick. He likes to complain and he likes being able to hold anything over other people. He has a standard that he doesn't meet himself. The world shorted him and Troy is going to take it out on his family.

I wondered if this was going to let Troy off the hook. If he reaps what he sews, he'll get very little back. It's because of Troy that his son Corey moves out. When Corey returns, the movie knows it doesn't need to add a word. We wonder if Corey regrets the what ifs, the what could have beens. He was driven out, and now he returns to this old house, all the old emotions flooding back over him. How this handled the conclusion was well done, it gave a little bit to both sides and I didn't mind, earlier hoping Troy somehow got his.