Apple TV dropped the trailer to "Emancipation" Monday, Will Smith’s first project since he slapped Chris Rock seven months ago during the Oscars. But that’s not why the film needs our attention.
The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua — who directed "Training Day," "The Equalizer I and II" and the late rapper Coolio’s video for “Gangsta’s Paradise” — stars Smith as an enslaved man who escapes a Louisiana plantation to fight in the Union Army. It is written by William N. Collage and is based on a true story.
The preview looks intense, opening with blood dropping on leaves in the Louisiana swamp, suggesting the violence the enslaved people encountered and witnessed on their runs to freedom. Smith plays Peter, a Creole man. His French accent is thick with fear and intensity. The trailer is just under two minutes, replete with violent war scenes, but by the time Peter says, “I look with triumph at my enemies,” I felt the fear in my bones.
