westsideschl 1. Miscast, a thin attractive model type figure to represent the Afro-American community. A good looking white male to be her counter. Ends up sexual? 2. Half of movie is historic TV coverage (mostly from air, some ground level) of R. King and early '90s L.A. riots. Like any graphic video w/out research & facts to help interpret/understand it's all in the eye of the beholder. 3. As a civil rights active advocate from decades ago I do not endorse one-sidedness on any side. Film failed to provide any discussion from Asian shop owners POV from that period or from police (black, white, Asian, Hispanic) and their POVs. 4. Film was sensationalism for it's own sake and lacked an intelligent base from which to form the storyline.

Tina_jeppesen But although it IS better than a lot of movies I've seen lately like sum other reviewers said it had wayy more potential due to the subject matter and actors even the little kid actors had charisma in this but abrupt ending that did not make me emotional (other than the after the very ending ; the movie being dedicated to a real kid) as sum of the other parts of the movie did...it seemed to be really good then a lazy made last 20-30 minutes

lavatch There is a salient dramatic moment in "Kings" when Halle Berry's character Millie is placed in handcuffs by the police at a time when her little children are looting a store during the 1992 riots. The officer berates Millie by saying, "I'm going to put you in hell." But he doesn't seem to realize that Millie's life is already hell when she recognizes that her children do not even know that what they are doing is wrong in looting the store.In the wake of the Rodney King trial, where four L.A. police officers were acquitted after nearly beating a man to death with the attack captured on video, a tragic set of riots ensued in South Central L.A. Filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven tries to put a human face on the riots with the caring foster mother Millie Dunbar and her children. But a problem is that there are so many children and confusing subplots that it difficult to follow the chain events as depicted in the film.One of the curious plot strands is the relationship of Millie and a kind neighbor named Odie Hardison (Daniel Craig). There was clearly a romantic subtext between Odie and Millie, but on multiple occasions, the connection between the neighbors became farcical. This was especially true on the second occasion when Millie was handcuffed by the policemen, who sped off and left her in cuffs. Odie then performed a spectacular Houdini-like feat in freeing them from the cuffs.The film was successful in showing how South Central became an inferno in 1992. It also framed the melodramatic family story effectively with footage from the Rodney King beating and the senseless shooting of Latasha Harlins by a proprietor in a grocery store. The central image of fire was well developed during the tragedy. The film is dedicated to the memory of Ryan De'Juan Dunbar, who lost his life during the riots.

sbocena ...The saddest thing about Kings is the fact that the movie had so much potential. I am talking about the talents ...Daniel Craig...Halle Berry...and also timeline of the story chosen "Post Rodney King's trial" riots. Sadly the director was unable to utilize the potential and ended making a movie in which the plot is everywhere......As in really!, what is this movie about?, starts off like a story about a foster mom struggling to care for her foster children...Then before you know it, there is a teenaged girl rebelling something at school thrown in the mix....now you probably think, she is gona be connected to the foster home story...but she is just kept on the sidelines...Then there is Daniel Craig placed in as a neighbor...as in was he significant to the story, even if it's based on true story, the director had to keep some sort of a focus ...you don't just carelessly thrown anything in the mix....Then there is the riot...If this movie was given to good director with all the potentials that sorround it...might have been a great movie