Blood Diamond (2006)

2007 #19
Edward Zwick | 143 mins | cinema | 15 / R

In some respects this also suffered from hype, though only to a small degree — Jonathan Ross loved it, which is usually a very good recommendation to me; I ‘merely’ thought it was very good.

Its most impressive achievement is mixing important real-life information with a compelling narrative in a way that does not feel preachy. It also doesn’t compromise on its moral messages for the sake of a twist, and has some great action sequences to boot. There are almost as many endings as Lord of the Rings mind.

Blood Diamond placed 10th on my list of The Ten Best Films I Saw For the First Time in 2007, which can be read in full here.