The first ten minutes or so are ROUGH. Really hard to get into and full of those Powerpoint-font credits.

After we start to meet the characters on the ground, even though they aren't much more than one note, the actors are fun to watch. In particular, David Oyelowo is terrific, and I'd love to see him get more large roles in films-- he can switch from intense to funny very quickly. I'm also a fan of Elijah Kelley and have been since Hairspray... I wish he had been given more to do, but I always appreciate his earnestness on screen.

The action in the opening scene is pretty incomprehensible, but it gets better when the movie is allowed to focus on the characters. I still think the camerawork was extremely okay at best, but I was engaged as was my date.

The pipe bit for Cuba was pretty fucking hilarious.

The ending is jarring, as people said-- I felt the hand of the editor at several points throughout, which is a bad thing. But again, I found it diverting and charming, and if Lucas set out to make a John Wayne flick for African-American audiences, I feel like that goal was accomplished.