During the entire movie I was thinking that Fences should be a play instead of a movie. Most of the time I read the reviews on here after watching the movie, and so did I with this movie, and that's only then that I realized that it used to be a play before becoming a movie. I'm not surprised because the movie is basically people talking whole the time. You never get a minute of rest, it's all about Denzel Washington ranting and raving about everything and nothing. It sometimes feels like a monologue with sporadic comments of the rest of the cast. Denzel Washington's character isn't the most pleasant man to listen to so at one point it gets a bit boring. As far as Viola Davis winning an Oscar for best performance by an actress in a supporting role I wouldn't go that far. Don't get me wrong she's a good actress but this movie is just not Oscar material, at least not to me. But then again over the years I saw alot of movies that in my eyes didn't deserve Oscars, so it might be me with my bad taste. All in all the movie is okay to watch once, but I will certainly not watch it a second time.

A good film it might be, but FENCES isn't for me. It's a 1950s-era family saga about the volatile relationship between man and boy; he's a failure for various reasons and he's determined to see his son turn out in his own image. The film not only stars Denzel Washington but was directed by him too, and he gives a very enthralling performance, supported well by Viola Davis. Sadly, what lets this down is a script; it's about everything and nothing, and it goes on and on an on hammering the same point home. The character vocabulary is limited, the characters themselves rather unlikeable, and it's one of those films where very little happens too.

It's 1950s Pittsburgh. Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) is a former pre-integration baseball player and a garbage man. He works with his best friend Jim Bono. Rose (Viola Davis) is his long suffering wife. He dominates his son Cory who is working to be a football player. He had purchased his home with disability money paid to his brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson) who was injured in the war. His estranged son Lyons from a previous relationship often comes over to borrow money.

These are two giants dialing their performances up to eleven. They stay there and don't allow for any gears to change. The setting is striped down which accentuates its play origins. A few tonal changes would help build the drama. Instead, they are just plowing through. It does have a great confrontational climax although the denouement should be shortened. This showcases great powerful actors but the story needs to have some differing tones.