Blood Diamond (2006) 8/10

Starring : Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers
Director : Edward Zwick
Running Time : 144 mins

An African fisherman living in Sierra Leone named Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) obtains the assistance of a smuggler named Danny Archer (DiCaprio) to help him find his son Dia (Kuypers) who has been kidnapped by a revolutionary group and is being used as a soldier. Archer agrees to help, but only in return for the location of an extremely rare pink diamond.

Although overly long, this film moves between scenes at such a fast pace that it seems a lot shorter. Hounsou, the lead character in all but billing, plays the put upon fisherman well, and keeps us sympathising with him from beginning to end. Despite a slightly ropey South African accent, DiCaprio wasn’t too bad as the smuggler, but Connelly’s character seemed a little characterless, especially considering she was a reporter.

You’ll like this if you liked : Hotel Rwanda