‘Rob Peace’ Review – A Moving But Safe Tale Of The Ambitions And Duties Of Blackness [Sundance 2024]

How does one choose between what their family needs and what they want?

The tension is complex for any person, but for Black men, it can be uniquely stressful. Community often shapes the concept of Blackness, seeking to preserve individual and collective stasis within a system that frequently tears at us piece by piece until nothing remains. There is an instinct to preserve those tenuous but fruitful connections, even if it requires personal sacrifice.

The titular character of Rob Peace discovers this for himself. Rob (Jay Will) is a gifted Black child growing up in New Jersey, raised by his mother, Jackie (Mary J. Blige), and visited by his father, Skeet (Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also writes and directs). The fragile peace within their estrangement is shattered when Skeet is charged with murdering two women. Rob leverages his intellectual gifts to help his imprisoned father. Those gifts also secure him a full ride to Yale University, which his mother pushes him to accept to pursue his studies and untether himself from his tough life. Rob goes to Yale to study molecular biophysics and biochemistry and receives plaudits for his intellectual curiosity and hard work. The need to help his father in prison leads Rob to sell chemically-enhanced marijuana, putting both his educational pursuits, career, and life at risk as it spins out of his control.

It’s a complicated issue with racial, sociopolitical, and economic implications. You can understand Chiwetel Ejiofor’s impulse to lean into biopic conventions to make Rob’s story more accessible. He has Rob’s voice overlay significant moments in his life, adding thematic and emotional context to what plays out on screen. Jeff Russo’s great score conveys narrative gravity and hope, soundtracking Rob’s triumphs and challenges. However, there are limits to what he can explore within this framework. The voiceover, for instance, is his statement of purpose for his college graduate program, which explains why his words are compelling but superficial, hiding his truest feelings behind a constructed persona for the sake of admissions officers. 

The lack of depth bleeds into Rob’s interactions. On campus, Rob shares his general philosophy on race, which rejects respectability but boils down race relations to finding common ground and side-stepping conflict. It’s an understandable (if naive) perspective, but Ejiofor doesn’t challenge or affirm it. The challenges to his worldview are kept within the sphere of his familial issues, raised by Jackie and Rob’s girlfriend Naya (Camila Cabello). Even those potent confrontations often lack reflection or resolution when Rob grapples with their consequences. Rob’s story and perspective are nuanced and complex, which makes Ejiofor’s safe approach a bit frustrating.

There are compelling flourishes of vision sprinkled throughout Rob Peace that offer promise in Ejiofor’s storytelling. He and his cinematographer, Ksenia Sereda, use intense, warm color grading to signal Rob’s turmoil and volatile doubt about his father’s innocence. The hip-hop needle drops combine Russo’s score to build a vibrant atmosphere that artfully explains Rob’s devotion to his community. Ejiofor’s use of these elements is the film at its most successful, filling in some of the gaps in the script. Also successful is his choice to avoid exploitative gang violence tropes, ending his film on a tragic but graceful and moving note, 

Unsurprisingly, Ejiofor also has a strong command of his ensemble, drawing out all-around excellent performances. Ejiofor himself is a powerful force on screen, and Skeets’s eruptive nature gives him plenty of opportunity to overwhelm us. Undergirding his outbursts is an anguish at being alone, isolated from his family, that is genuinely moving. Jay Will does excellent work at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, conveying quiet confidence and intelligence that makes watching him compelling, especially as he moves through fraught and comforting spaces and interacts with his parents. Mary J Blige wears Jackie’s skepticism of her ex-husband and insistence on fighting for Rob’s future incredibly well, delivering a nuanced, impactful performance. Pop star Camilla Cabello is almost unrecognizable as Naya, and her no-nonsense dynamic and empathy yield strong results opposite Will. 

Rob Peace is a story that begs for a richer narrative that addresses the tension bubbling underneath its glossy, accessible surface. Ejiofor does craft a thoughtful and moving cinematic tribute to his titular character. However, his hesitancy to fully engage Rob’s relationships with his father, community, and, ultimately, Blackness itself, leaves the film feeling less than the possibilities of its potential. It ends up being a sadly ironic reflection of Rob Peace’s life.

Rob Peace had its World Premiere in the Premieres section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Writer: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rated: NR

Runtime: 119m