187

1997 - 5/5

Fyi: 187 is the police code for homicide/murder.

Like you, I used to think the world was this great place where everybody lived by the same standards I did. Then some kid with a nail showed me I was living in his world. A world where chaos rules not order. A world where righteousness is not rewarded. That's Cesar's world, and if you're not willing to play by his rules, then you're gonna have to pay the price.

 -Trevor Garfield 

There are many ‘based on true stories’ out there about teachers who go into urban schools and change the lives of their students for the better; for example, Dangerous Minds. If you have seen that movie or any movie like it, all I have to say is that you have not seen 187. For those of you who don’t know, this movie was written by a teacher.

The number of times I’ve seen this movie is in the double digits. I can watch this movie over and over again, and I’d still feel the exact same way as I did the first time. I think it’s fair to say that it is one of my favourite movies.

Trevor Garfield (Samuel L Jackson) is a high school science teacher in Brooklyn, NY. He is the target of a violent attack from one of the students. Several months later, he has moved to LA and works as a substitute teacher. Even though he relocated across the country, and is in a different territory, with different people, the same problems emerge. He is not only broken physically, he is broken mentally. SLJ portrays a guy that you can’t break because he’s already broken; you’d think he actually went through that ordeal!

This has to be Samuel L. Jackson’s BEST performance EVER! He plays the role of a teacher whose true passion is teaching, but is unable to regain who he was before the incident. As a viewer, I see SLJ as a guy that has been so beaten down, but refuses to give up what he loves doing.

I can sit here and write about how much I loved the dialogue in the movie. If I were to add all the quotes I liked, I may as well provide you with a copy of the screenplay. I would understand if nobody read it, which is why I’d recommend you watch the movie!

From the get-go, this movie had a dreary vibe to it. The blue tint added to the first couple of scenes in New York, the camera angles, and the cinematography created the perfect mood for the story. This movie gives me the chills every time and it had one of the best endings ever. Nothing was sugar coated. This movie leaves you with a lot of questions about morality and whether or not some actions are justified.

This movie has a great plot, great acting, great cinematography, and to top it all off, a phenomenal script. It’s hard to find a movie that has high repeat value nowadays, which is probably why I’ve watched this movie as many times as I have since its release in 1997. When you’ve seen a movie numerous times, and it still evokes the exact same emotions as the first time, it has done its job well.

R U DONE?