What We Found

The main reason I heard about this movie is because Elizabeth Mitchell is in it. Though I knew she would only play a small supporting role, I gave it a try anyway, hoping the movie wouldn't suffer too much from typical budget-related indie-film problems. And at least to a certain extent, it did not.

The overall style and camera work is quite decent. Sure, with a smaller budget, there aren't any fancy locations or large crowd scenes or similar, and that's to be expected, but the team did the best with what they had. I definitely didn't expect the kind of action sequence at the river toward the end of the movie. And they also tried to add some visual variety using (I assume) a camera drone for some of the establishing shots.

Another thumbs up goes to the cast. I wasn't familiar with any of the kids before watching this movie but I think we'll see more of them in the future. They played well together and made the most of the lines they were given.

But this brings me to the main shortcoming of this movie: the script. Or, maybe it wasn't so much the script itself but things had to be cut or were edited poorly -- I can't tell. I just know that the story tried to do too much and ended up saying too little. Too many issues were crammed into one movie: drug trafficking, gun violence, corrupt cops, bullying, abusive parents, the stereotypical missing black father (let's retire this cliché for a while, shall we?), the usual high-school drama, and above all, a murder mystery.

It's just too much, and none of these issues get enough room to breathe and to develop their full potential. It also affects the characters, who often remain underdeveloped and leave the audience waiting for something to really connect with. And in the end, everything gets wrapped up too neatly, and it feels like the creators tried to tick off as many "drama, baby!" boxes as possible without really dealing with all the repercussions.

At the end of the day, it's a decent indie movie. Not one of the best, but certainly not one of the worst I've seen either. If you have an afternoon or evening to spare, give it a try. Indie movies can always use our support, and this cast deserves some more attention. Just keep your expectations low with regard to the story / twists.

Looking forward to the next projects of everybody involved in "What We Found".

Heard from news about the gun shot in American school field. This movie have a side message the seriousness of the gun problem in US. For the storyline, I feel it's just mediocre. At least it didn't touch my heart and echo on the story.

Sad view of crime and corruption in our inner cities. Corrupt police, drug related crime. Societal decay at all levels. A poor life story and a get out of dodge warning. Forboding of an apocalyptic future of America. Undeloped characters lead to plot with predictable story line. Disconnected adult figures play little role in the life of young characters. Indicative of mainstream drug use fostered by outside meddling from foreign powers. A dispotian view into the future real life in America in the near and not so near future. The very real and terrifying "Craig of the Creek" Baltimor, Maryland.

Multiple sites are erroneously pointing to this IMDB entry for the 2025 documentary "What They Found". Strangely, IMDB does not have an entry for that documentary, which may explain the erroneous links.

"What They Found" is a documentary about what the allied soldiers found when they discovered/liberated the Nazi death camps in 1944-1945. It is a film that was made during the pandemic and is told from the perspective of the actual allied soldiers that entered the camps. I hope that IMDB gets this straightened out quickly with an entry for that documentary, and a notice in this entry pointing to that documentary.

I hope this gets fixed soon.

Every once in a while, I feel a movie deserves a bit of love and support and this is one of them. Whoever cast this film knew what they were doing with the 3 young leads. You believe in their friendship and you care about them all. Further, the way the script interweaves their backstories with the lives of the adults around them, is admirable. It's a story you enjoy watching play out. Mind you, it's not a big budget film, but rather appears to be made for Amazon Prime or something along those lines. But you will be drawn into this and when it's over you will have enjoyed the unique ride it takes you on. Hard to believe it's from 2020, as it simply sticks to entertainment and avoids virtue signaling completely. That alone makes it worth some support.. Enjoy!