Diagonaldi Very well executed

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

pazu7 How does a film like this wind up with a little 5.8 rating while glossy pablum like Prometheus gets a 7.8? While 'Night Catches Us' does have a few pacing problems and plays a bit anti-climactic in places, it is a layered emotional drama with excellent performances. I just finished watching the DVD and was amazed it didn't get higher critical response. I was also surprised by some of the deleted scenes and wondered why they had been cut from the film. For example, the confrontation between Marcus and Jimmy, the young wanna-be revolutionary, takes place in the house in the film. But in the deleted scenes, there is a much better and more detailed version of the same exchange where Marcus goes deeper into the history of the Panthers. Maybe continuity made them scrap that version, but it was a stronger scene. Anyway, catch this one on DVD. (Resubmitting this review after deleting it by accident)

tapestry-0 I saw one review on this twisted history movie and had to say something. I lived in this era, I saw the Black Panthers kill a lot of people.I lived in Oakland I saw them burning buildings for no reason except they didn't like the school or the people. I saw them beating up teachers who were trying to help them. The only people killed by these so called 'civilians' were other civilians. The hate was incredible, Oakland turned from a thriving metropolis to a town of empty stores, with newspapers flying in the streets. My whole family lived there my Grandparents were born there and my folks, the town was decent it was full of hard working people. Then the haters moved in and started destroying everything. The city did not help they torn down the Victorian homes that were solid and built slums that had rats within 30 days of occupation because the garbage was everywhere. I saw a whole city implode by shooting and gangs the panthers were just one of many; they were just more talked about than the rest. Anyone who thinks the government was wrong helping the Vietnamese people get away from communist aggression didn't hear the cries for help from them when their cities were destroyed and the people killed in the thousands. We lost only because Congress wouldn't let the military do their job and complete their mission. I know many people from south east Asia that would love to go back to their country if they could worship the way they wanted to without being harassed by the communist regime. Communism isn't pretty! people also forget that the era was full of drugs and immorality it wasn't good and didn't do anything to advance civilization in fact I think it went back a few steps! Docudramas are the bargain basement of movies they take 10 percent real history and 90 percent baloney and everyone thinks it really happened that way! Don't waste your time!

jlongstreth-1 Night Catches Us is a love poem to a turbulent age.As a child in the 60s and 70s, watching the Black Panther movement from the comfort of my suburban middle class home, I had no idea what it all really meant to the people living the conflict. This film helps you to understand how the racial struggle impacted individual people. Death, love, revenge, resignation, acceptance, and compromise all play out in a very understated fashion.The production and continuity is meticulous. The cars, clothing, hairstyles, household items, even down to the soda cans are all carefully chosen to represent 1976. The music used is not period, but it sounds very much so, and credit must be given to The Roots for capturing the times with their own sound.The resolution, or lack thereof, is the only ending that could have been possible for this film. Patricia must continue her fight and her penance. Marcus must move on. It hurts, but it's the only right thing. Difficult to convey such hard reality to movie-going audiences who want overblown drama and unrealistic love stories. In this case, reality is pitch perfect.

Darnell Lamont Walker There's a beauty that lies in these shots, I kept saying to myself as I watched Night Catches Us. Simplistically, yet wonderfully told, is a story we have no seen yet. A truth that existed in 1976, not only in Philadelphia, but in Detroit, Chicago, Oakland, New York City and many other cities and towns across the country. This truth told us that, while the panthers were growing larger and simultaneously being eradicated all across the country, there were those who had non-romanticized lives outside of their affiliation with the party. While Mario Van Peeble's 1995 version of this truth was indeed true, we fell in love with the party, not with the individuals. We knew the workings of "the pig" and the maneuvers of the Panthers. Tanya Hamilton brings us to a neighborhood, to a house, to a family that wakes up, breathes and lives because they have to do these things to keep moving. Their sub story is their involvement with the Black Panther Party. Their true story is the one we don't see, but it's told to us in ways only a great filmmaker can tell it: between the lines, between the scenes. It lies in the perfect chemistry between Marcus (Anthony Mackie) and Patty (Kerry Washington). Rarely do we get lost in characters, forgetting the actor, and this was one of those rare occasions, and credit must be given to all for such a feat. These were real lives we watched on screen, real emotions, real situations, realness. There was a raw love being shown that hasn't existed since Love Jones (Written and Directed by Theodore Witcher). I would be extraordinarily surprised if Tanya Hamilton, the writer and director, was not an admirer of Charles Burnett, writer and director of Killer of Sheep. I highly recommend this film and would love to one day work with Tanya Hamilton, the creative genius.