This film is low-budget and cringe-worthy in its lack of subtlety and realism.But worse than those flaws is the skewed narrative on which a hardened mass murderer who went to his grave refusing to admit to his multiple murders is painted as a Nelson Mandela-like figure.The film departs from reality so much that it must be seen for what it is: historical revisionism with a heavy dose of Evil Whitey.That the film has the gall to present multiple cold-blooded murders (including the shotgun killing of a family for some cash) as "internalised racism" is infuriating.The murders are brushed over and barely mentioned, the actual details of which paint a very different picture of the man.Stan "Tookie" Williams went to his grave refusing to actually redeem himself and confess to his murders, he refused to help police by giving insight into the Crips, he continued to associate with Crips in prison.I cannot even relate to the level of naivete required to buy this narrative.I would urge anyone to read about Tookee's crimes, racial hatred and appeals based upon racist treatment from juries.The only reason I would watch this movie again is to tally up how many scenes have an over-the-top hate-filled white guy making poor Tookee's prison life difficult.Shame on the Nobel committee. I do not blame Jamie Foxx, he was early in his career and was probably desperate for a role. He was actually great but the character was intolerable.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams was the co-founder of the Crips. Ray Washington was the founder. The movie Redemption incorrectly portrays "Tookie" Williams as the founder, but he was not! I would like to see this information corrected on the IMDb movies website. It is true the "Tookie" Williams took the gang to a new level after becoming a member of the gang, but he did not found the gang. This is so disheartening to learn that mistakes like this are not caught before it is made available to millions of computer users. Please help me to get the word out that "Tookie" Williams did not found the Crips gang, but he did become a member of the gang that Ray Wasghington founded and then the name was changed.

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits A true story depicting the story of Crips founder Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, played by Jamie Foxx. Imprisoned on multiple counts of murder in the early 80s, the film takes off on the verge of Tookie's execution date, when he is visited by a journalist (Lynn Whitfield) eager to learn about the gang culture. Impressed by the intelligent and seemingly remorseful man she now sees in front of her, she is astonished when he asks for her help-in writing children's books warning of the dangers of gang life! This is the beginning of his path to true redemption and his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.I got a little caught up last year in the big Tookie debate as the day of his execution dawned (or maybe just a little after it.) Ancient history now, but I thought it would still be interesting to check this film out and learn a little bit more about the story behind Tookie.As the actor playing him, Foxx was one of the celebrity vocal exponents for granting clemency to Tookie in the closing days before his execution. I'm willing to bet he met the man and spoke with him to research his part a bit, and that his portrayal of the imprisoned man is fairly accurate. Tookie's crimes sound truly despicable and in the eyes of many his death by lethal injection may even have sounded too merciful, but I think what the film is trying to portray is an example of how the American prison system has worked in it's ability to 'rehabilitate' a criminal and make him into a more intelligent, if not entirely decent, human being. With Foxx in the lead role, I can't help but feel his personal politics on the matter may have had some say in how the script panned out, and at times it does feel a little one-sided, going to great lengths to show the new improved Tookie without going into too much detail of the atrocious crimes he committed, but then a few other films could be accused of that recently.Quality wise, the film suffers from a bit of a disjointed opening, with too much use of flashy camera effects. Early on, this actually put me in such low expectations for the rest of the film that I actually found myself nodding off for a bit. But Foxx does deliver a compelling performance in the lead role and things do get more interesting as the film goes on. Plus it should be commended for wrapping the very heavy subject matter it's depicting up in just under an hour and a half. ***

I think this movie was really good and stuff and I think that they shouldn't have executed him why? Why because if they didn't he would have made more books on why you shouldn't join gangs and a lot of the books have inspired teenagers not to join gangs all though i haven't read his books yet I'm sure they were really good because they inspired teenagers not to join gangs.I think that Stanley Tookie Williams was changing his life around I don't know why they executed him and I really don't understand why they didn't let him go because if they did let him go he wouldn't have went back to the streets and back to his gang which is the Crips because he was too old for the gang I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be seeing an old person in a gang of people because that just doesn't seem right seeing an old person in a gang it's like seeing old people listening to rap and R&B that's just wrong like seriously man I don't get it why would they kill someone who was changing his life around and writing books on why you shouldn't join gangs do you get it??