“Blackout” is a film chronicling the city-wide blackout of New York City on August 14, 2003. The film centers on the tenants of an East Flatbush, Brooklyn, apartment building using multiple interwoven narrative threads. Claudine (Zoe Saldana) is a magazine publisher who’s critical of her unemployed partner, James (Sean Blakemore), who lost his job following the tragic events of 9/11, which he witnessed firsthand. C.J. (Michael B. Jordan) is the community high-flier on his way to Penn State in the fall on a full academic scholarship. He’s targeted by a thug, played by “The Wire’s” Jamie Hector (basically reprising his role as the ruthless Marlo), who’s recently been released from prison. Fatima (Susan Kelechi Watson) is a spoken-word poet who’s getting two-timed by her boyfriend, but who also draws the affections of a local bodega owner, a Muslim. Finally, you’ve got Sol (Saul Rubinek), the callous building-owner who’s only interested in the bottom line and is about to evict the longtime super, George (Melvin Van Peebles), when the blackout and resulting riots break out. Finally, you have barbershop owner Nelson (Jeffrey Wright), who has seen it all and been through it all.

Writer/Director Jerry LaMothe, a Brooklyn native, has apparently crafted the film from a collection of personal accounts. Commendable though they may be, the story threads are formulaic and reach predictable outcomes. At no point do you lose sight of the fact this is a film. There are some commendable performances, including that of the criminally underrated Jeffrey Wright (channeling "Barbershop’s” Ice Cube) and Zoe Saldana. However, there are some terribly clichéd threads, including C.J.’s as the doomed upwardly mobile kid from the block, and James as the tormented witness of 9/11. (In one truly silly sequence, you see James and a group of remarkably passive bystanders watching the second plane zoom past them). Most of all, I’m still not convinced of the significance of the event. Yes, there’s a blackout. And yes, a bunch of bad people took advantage of others during this time of great vulnerability. But what’s the overall message here? The 2003 blackout seems trivial when compared to the L.A. riots or the Katrina unrest, so why not make a similar film set there? Or, if you’re aiming for social commentary, why not juxtapose the harmony experienced by those in Manhattan with the riots in East Flatbush? There are some poignant moments, including the understanding reached by Sol and the world-weary George, but, overall, “Blackout” just doesn’t pack the same emotional punch as Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing,” which it is clearly derivative of.