Emperor

Not historically accurate but entertaining enough. They took quite a lot of liberties with the beginning and end of the story, making up details of Shields Green's life and completely changing the outcome of his plight. But besides all the historical inaccuracies, if you just wanted to watch it for pure entertainment... the script was a bit weak, which made it hard for the actors to shine. Even though there were some big named actors, many performances were average due to the poor script, lack of character development, weak direction, and lackluster sets. While watching, I was drawn into wanting to see the outcome of Shields' trek to freedom (but I was disappointed to find out after the fact that most of what happened in the movie did not happen in real life.) It was watchable but could have been so much better, IMHO! 2.3 stars

Although set in a different era, this film feels like 12 Years a Slave and The Birth of a Nation, but devalued in terms of seriousness, even when the subject matter is so grim. And the inaccuracy is the least of its problems. But maybe it will get someone interested in the story of the main character. I can say it did it with me.