Rize Movie Review

I honestly didn’t know what to expect coming into watching Rize. By the title of the movie I thought it would have something to do with rising up through some type of adversity. If it wasn’t for the description of the assignment, I never would have thought it would have anything to do with both Krumping or Clowning in Los Angeles. For people that still may not know what Krumping is, it’s a very different style of dancing that first became popular in the 90’s. It’s a way more aggressive style of dance that was widely popular in the hip-hop community during the time. As the movie went on, it showed how the clowns in the groups were actual real clowns, makeup and all. They wore the wigs, the makeup, the red noses and even crazy outfits. They’d have the shoes if it didn’t get in the way when they are performing. The performances sort of look like a fist fight greatly sped up for lack of a better term. To people looking on the outside, it seems like a very random style of dance although it was shown how planned out the dancing really was. The way the performances went was a style of one versus one Krump off to see who could get the best of their opponent. One part I liked about the movie is when we learn more about Tommy the Clown, aka Tom Johnson. We learn about his life and what led to him becoming the man that we see in the film. He was lucky to end up as a clown because he was caught up in the gang lifestyle when he was younger and he was put in jail. Once he was asked to be a clown for a party, he really enjoyed the way people reacted to him and he wanted to keep doing it. He became a type of “ghetto celebrity” as described in the film. He created a group of people just like him and they eventually came up with a new style of dancing, which led to the groups of Krump dancing clowns all over. As the movie goes on we see how the different groups of clowns kind of create their own images and rivalries with other groups. Aside from the traditional clown makeup, they look more like the kind of villains you’d see in something like Batman. As the movie comes to an end, you can see how the lifestyle of people can still catch up to them, although it shows how people also did something to try and get away from their past lives. Overall, I believe that this was an interesting film that people should certainly look into.