THE INSPECTION

There is an authenticity that runs through the entire picture, even if The Inspection never totally fulfills its intriguing promise.

Imagine the first half of Full Metal Jacket, only with a gay recruit as the lead actor, and you get a pretty good idea what it feels like to watch The Inspection.

The movie is based on the personal experiences of writer-director Elegance Bratton when he went to marine bootcamp. This explains the authenticity that runs through the picture despite the many predictable plot elements it recycles from other similar movies.

Still, the undoubtable promise Bratton shows as a movie maker is never completely fulfilled because you get a sense that he is somehow holding back, apart from the scenes the lead character shares with his mother, who has never come to terms with his coming-out. Those are without a doubt the most powerful in The Inspection, not only because of the harsh, touching way in which they are written but because of the exquisite acting by Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union.

They are not enough to grant The Inspection a third star however. Because once the end credits roll and you mull over the picture, it’s the blunt predictability of the movie that lingers longer than its several genuine merits.

release: 2022

director: Elegance Bratton

starring: Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union, Bokeem Woodbine, Raúl Castillo