Denzel Washington’s performance is immense but Fences is a very wearing 140 minutes

REVIEW: Denzel Washington gives an immense performance of ferocious intensity and precise focus yet Fences is a very wearing 140 minutes.

FENCES (M)

Director: Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher)

Starring: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo, Stephen Henderson, Mykelti Williamson.

Rating: Three stars

What divides may never conquer

THERE is little choice but to choose a side when it comes to Fences.

You may possibly lose yourself in an immense performance of ferocious intensity and precise focus from Denzel Washington, who is clearly near the peak of his powers here.

Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson hug Viola Davis, who plays his wife Rose, in a scene from Fences. Picture: David Lee / Paramount Pictures

Or you will find yourself kept at a mildly frustrating distance by an acclaimed stage play — which won its writer, the late August Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987 — that never quite settles down at home on the big screen.

Washington stars as Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh sanitation worker who sees life in America in the 1950s as a never-ending struggle to keep his family from ending up on the scrapheap.

Troy has suffered some tough breaks in the past, and he is not shy when it comes to letting everyone know exactly what hardships he has endured.

In his teens, Troy had to break free from a physically abusive father, and go it alone on the open road. He lost all of his twenties to a long stretch in jail. In his thirties, he almost made it as a pro baseballer, only for his age and the colour of his skin to ultimately put that dream on the sidelines.

Though now well into his twilight years, Troy is not about to lie down quietly and accept what little good fortune the fates see fit to grant him.

However, Troy’s stubborn ways — which manifest themselves as a vast collection of grudges against anything or anyone that has ever done him wrong — are holding back those who rely on him.

His dutiful wife Rose (a measured, graceful Viola Davis) cops the worst of it. For her, life has become a matter of instinctively sensing when to pipe up or shut up.

Viola Davis has been nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor in her role as Mavis Maxson in Fences. Picture: David Lee / Paramount Pictures via AP

Should she go the wrong way, the impact could be devastating. Particularly for the couple’s teenage son Cory (Jovan Adepo), who may have the chance to makes something of himself that his father never did.

By clocking in a very wearing 140 minutes, Fences makes demands of a viewer’s patience that some may not feel willing to meet.

Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson, Joven Adepo (son Cory) and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Jim Bono in a scene from Fences. Picture: David Lee / Paramount Pictures

However, there is no doubting the power and the fury charging through the work of Washington — who also directs here — and a few of his most compelling speeches rank as true master classes in wielding the spoken word as a weapon.

Oscar nominees wine and dine at star-studded luncheon

VIEW GALLERY

Originally published as Denzel Washington’s performance is immense but Fences is a very wearing 140 minutes