Blood Diamond

This was a good film, but not a great film. All 3 of the principal actors (DiCaprio, Hounsou, and Connelly) deliver very good performances, but the film is simply too long, probably by 10-15 minutes as the story just bounces around Africa and not every pitstop warranted staying in the film when it could have been excised for a leaner, meaner cut of the film.

The spotlighting of the diamond trade (conflict diamonds, and artificially propping up the "rareness" supply of diamonds to keep prices high, and desirable) is almost an afterthought at times, almost getting lost in the stories interweaved amongst the 3 main characters, all of whom have their own agendas in finding the big diamond that was hidden away by Hounsou's character, and work at cross purposes to get what they want. The character development for the main 3 characters over the course of the film is a little uneven, but ends somewhat satisfying and poignant enough.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.