Review: 'Emancipation' lacks the finesse of Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave'

Will Smith starrer film Emancipation depicts the true story of Peter, an enslaved man who goes beyond lengths for his freedom.

He embarks on a dangerous trip across the Louisiana swamps to run away from the clutches of plantation owners, after accidentally becoming part of the wrong book of slave owners at the railway construction site.

In the movie, Smith did justice with his challenging character, who fights an alligator in a swamp, make strategies to dodge sniffer dogs and scales a tree to fetch honey from a beehive.

The Pursuit of Happiness actor is featured in almost every scene, and his performance played a key role to make the otherwise mediocre movie stand out.

Emancipation takes the viewers to US of 1863, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, to put an end to slavery.

It is filmed in the Louisiana plantation where hundreds of black people work as slaves to lay railroad rails or grow cotton.

Peter, who is one of the slave, was a Haitian-born man enraged and yearns to escape the plantations.

He leaves the plantation and embarks on a five day journey to Baton Rouge, where the Union Army is stationed.

Peter was then pursued by Jim Fassel, who possess the intentions to capture him and bring him back to the plantation.

Most part of the film focuses on Peter's journeys and Fassel's quest to capture him. The movie is plainly commercial and lacks the finesse of Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave was produced by Antoine Fuqua.

Emancipation is dominated by Smith, while, Ben Foster's portrayal of Jim Fassel wonderfully fits Will's demeanor.

However, the film is not an easy watch, as it contains graphic images of torture inside the camp featuring mutilated hands and a prisoner being treated with a hot iron on his cheeks.

In addition to this, the movie also contains a few memorable scenes of three young girls, one of them was Peter's own daughter, who urges her mother to leave the plantation.

The second girl was seen screaming "Runner, Runner!" when Peter sneaks by a house, while, the third girl was on the verge of death, and Peter tries everything in his capacity to save her.

A major portion of the movie is devoted to Peter's journey to Baton Rouge.