I have recently been amused by video clips on the Internet that take scenes from a movie and, with extensive editing, create a trailer that makes the movie seem like it’s of a completely different genre. The best have been a trailer for the “Back to the Future” trilogy, which convincingly portrays it as a “Brokeback Mountain”-type romance between Marty and Doc, and a trailer for “The Shining” which turns the classic horror film into a feel-good drama.

After watching the trailer for “Freedomland” again, I realize the people responsible for making its trailer must have gone through as much creative work as those who knowingly, for comedic purposes, make a movie seem like something it’s not. While the trailer makes “Freedomland” look like it’s filled with suspense, mystery, and has a purposeful plot that actually accomplishes something, this is far from the truth. In reality this is a dull, ineffective, and suspense-free drama.

Samuel L. Jackson stars as Lorenzo Council, a detective for the African American housing projects of Dempsy, NJ. He’s been assigned to the case of Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore), a white woman from the predominantly white bordering town of Gannon, who is the victim of a car jacking near Dempsy by a black man, and claims her four-year-old was in the back seat. Because of the racial dynamics of the case, there’s a response of outrage from project residents as the Gannon police exceed their bounds into Dempsy and try to take control.

After Brenda arrives at the Dempsy Hospital covered in blood, Council tries to find out what happened. While she’s frantic and visibly upset, Council isn’t sure if she’s just distraught because of what’s happened, or is holding something back. This scene, in which Council finds out Brenda’s son is missing, is meant to be intense, but the way it’s shot is distracting, and Council’s sudden asthma attack appears out of nowhere, seemingly just to add more chaos to the scene.

Council’s agreeing to take on the case angers the black community because they think his efforts should be spent protecting their people, and not those from another town. Also serving as an obstacle for Council are the cops from Gannon, led by Brenda’s brother Danny (Ron Eldard). These cops bully both the Dempsy residents and police, and feel that they have jurisdiction over the area.

The opening scenes serve as a setup for a potentially effective and interesting drama that includes a mystery to be solved while exploring important issues. Instead, nothing past the opening half hour offers anything remotely intriguing. Director Joe Morgan does a very ineffective job of allowing for the characters or the many plotlines to develop. This helps in failing to create any type of sympathy for the characters or a reason to care about the plot’s resolution. Not even Richard Price’s adaptation of his novel to the screenplay (Price also wrote “Clockers,” which was turned into an effective Spike Lee movie), or the score by James Newtown Howard (“The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable”) is able to save this movie.

Julian Moore is completely out of place in a horrible performance, a major reason why “Freedomland” becomes jarring and unwatchable. Her portrayal of Brenda is annoying and unsympathetic, an especially difficult task considering she plays a mother in search of her missing son. Brenda gives various long speeches here and there which drag on and on and are extremely ineffective. Never have I been more tempted to throw my soda at the screen.

Her character--a former drug addict with some obvious issues--is the type of role that requires an actor to act completely different than he or she is in real life, which usually merits praise for the courage that’s required to take it on. Moore even looks disheveled and unattractive, qualities that definitely gain the attention of the Academy when searching for Oscar nominees. However this performance is just a disaster, failing to work on any level, and making Moore an early favorite for a Razzie, not an Oscar.

Also, the story never takes off, as it seems pretty obvious where it is heading. The majority of the scenes, while some are effectively executed, end up being pointless to moving the plot along. Such is the case with Karen Collucci (Edie Falco), the head of an organization that helps look for missing children. While her performance is good, in the scheme of things she’s not needed. This includes an elaborate sequence in which she leads the group on a search for the child which is all buildup and no payoff.

Also, Brenda’s brother Danny is a little over the top as the cop obsessed with proving he knows better than the Dempsy cops and who tries to take care of the situation himself. He unrealistically doesn’t seem to care about Brenda or his missing nephew but rather is motivated by other personal reasons, including benefiting his own town and police department.

The resolution of “Freedomland” is obvious and feels as if it was known all along. There is nothing that detective Council or any other character does on screen that gives a believable reason for conclusions that are made. It’s not as if there is an effective investigation that leads to finding evidence that solves the crime. Rather the movie plays out as a false mystery that, after an hour and a half of filler, decides it’s time to stop fooling the audience and explain what actually happened.

It is extremely frustrating to realize that you’ve watched a movie that’s served no purpose. “Freedomland” explores too many issues, doesn’t spend enough time developing characters or plotlines to create interest in those issues, and gives new meaning to the word “frustrating”—a word which not only describes the viewing experience, but also the fact that the source material and actors could have made for a much better movie.