The Six Triple Eight, 2024.
Written and Directed by Tyler Perry.
Starring Kerry Washington, Sam Waterston, Susan Sarandon, Oprah Winfrey, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Jay Reeves, Jeanté Godlock, Moriah Brown, Baadja-Lyne Odums, Gregg Sulkin, Dean Norris, Austin Nichols, Ben VanderMey, Nick Harris, Scott Daniel Johnson, Jeffery Thomas Johnson, Brian Kurlander, Donna Biscoe, Eugene H. Russell IV, Ben Peck, Bill Barrett, Helene Henry, Kerry O’Malley, George Gallagher, Sarah Helbringer, Nina Jones, Ciara Caffey, and Dawn Raven.
SYNOPSIS:
855 women joined the war to fix the three-year backlog of undelivered mail. Faced with discrimination and a country devastated by war, they managed to sort more than 17 million pieces of mail ahead of time.
Nothing Tyler Perry has made has suggested that he would be the right filmmaker to tell the story of the only all-women, people-of-color battalion in World War II, which is the center of The Six Triple Eight. Having seen the film, that thought holds. It would be unfair to say that this is out of left field for him, especially since he has been dabbling in drama and period pieces lately, but typically still with narratives that marginally make sense for his unabashedly mawkish and overheated storytelling.
With that said, this still might be Tyler Perry’s best film to date (faint praise), although not necessarily because of his direction or writing (working from Kevin Hymel’s article Fighting a Two-Front War), but rather the strong-willed, dignified turn from Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams. Like the name of that article, she is fighting two separate battles; one is preparing her recruits for war, and the other is to get her battalion, 6888, some actual orders within a racist military. She has the difficult balancing act of training her recruits in mind and body while also reminding them that even the slightest act of speaking up to nasty superiors could result in court marshaling. In other words, Kerry Washington is not only playing a real person but also a real character, which is a rarity for anything associated with the Tyler Perry brand.
The same can’t be said for the real-life individuals making up Battalion 6888, with each of them forced to go big and broad, whether it be grieving a soldier boyfriend, repeatedly complaining that the Army wardrobe doesn’t give breasts enough breathing room (she uses a different term), a preacher’s daughter overplayed to the max, a romantic subplot (which seems to have actually happened but still distracts from the compelling subjects and material at hand), and Dean Norris as General Halt, a man so unashamedly and brazenly racist it somehow escapes the realm of believability and comes across comical. The same could be said about everyone’s personality here, which simply doesn’t feel convincing, whether it’s the clunky writing or phony performances.
There is something similarly off regarding Tyler Perry’s envisioning of Europe during World War II or war itself; soldiers are typically seen making bizarre expressions, whereas the brief glimpse of action sees bodies flung around like rag dolls from explosions with the visual tone of a spoof on such battles. His go-to move is draining color from the frame whenever these soldiers are on screen. As for the rest of the film, it is awkwardly lit and comes with a made-for-TV sheen.
Before getting acquainted with the battalion, there is a prologue following Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian) and her white boyfriend Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), in love much to the chagrin of her mom, who would prefer she go to college. After receiving a letter that her beloved was killed in battle, Lena decides she will get revenge on Hitler by joining the war.
Across the training montage under the command of Major Charity Adams, Lena flunks every course. She doesn’t necessarily demonstrate she would be capable in the field, but she does have heart and determination. After Eleanor Roosevelt (a cameo from Susan Sarandon) gets involved, it turns out those requirements aren’t that important anyway, as the battalion is sent on a mission, although not a particularly dangerous one: morale is low, 16 million pieces of mail are scattered about hangers and have yet to be delivered to soldiers, and it’s up to them to sort through every letter and get them sent, unsurprisingly under harsh living conditions. Even when they do make progress, it is undermined by racist superiors.
Giving credit where it’s due, it is engaging when these women are focused on the task at hand, problem-solving the several issues that arise when it comes to identifying who wrote the letters, where the soldiers are currently, how to deliver them, and where they are supposed to be sent. Unfortunately, that’s a small fraction of The Six Triple Eight, which is more concerned with having these thinly written caricatures bounce off one another, making for groan-inducing humor or ham-fisted drama. In other words, this story should be told, preferably by anyone but Tyler Perry.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
