New Jack City
The gangster genre has always been among the most colorful of all movie types, violent, glorious displays about a criminalās rise to power and inevitable downfall. While obviously little can be done to change the basic formula of such films (outside of having the bad guy āwinā), what can make one rise above all others is the stylistic approach of its director, along with the always fruitful advantage of good writing. That brings us to Mario Van Peeblesā 1991 directorial debut, mining the familiar territory in new ways while making a statement on the then out of control crack epidemic which was sweeping major cities at the time. Wesley Snipes gives a tour de force performance as Nino Brown, a rising drug dealer who early on realizes the potential of the freebase cocaine derivative crack as a major game changer in his industry and uses that to rise to the top, all the while using the black victim mentality as his motivation and going on the rationale that (in the late 80s) this was the ONLY way a black man was ever going to be rich and powerful, not to mention being an organizational genius who manages to take over an entire apartment building in order to consolidate his business in one place. Snipes is effectively ruthless when need be, but he also brings a human side to his character when necessary, particularly in his familial like loyalty to his fellow compadres and especially when he has to fight back tears while gunning down one of his closest and dearest friends for screwing up one time too many. An incredibly impressive turn that makes its mark minus the over the top theatrics of say, Al Pacino in Scarface (itself an awesome movie, and one that this pays direct homage to), and the fact that no Best Actor Nomination was forthcoming for Snipes that year (as opposed to, Warren Beatty in Bugsy?!) shows that Hollywood was still severely out of whack when it came to its Oscar considerations that year. Where Van Peebles goes above and beyond when presenting this story (including having himself playing the one overseeing the police operations) is by having the cops pursuing Nino be interesting and original in their own right, two loose cannons teamed together in a desperate attempt to bring Nino down by any means necessary and portrayed by Ice T and Judd Nelson. While Nelson is indeed cooler than an eskimo here, it is Ice T who becomes the standout (not to mention his fame as a rapper proved to be a HUGE box office draw upon release), playing his Scotty Appleton as a guy motivated to clean up the streets for not only personal reasons, but to return true empowerment to black Americans by cutting out the cancer that is Nino and his drug dealing empire that is in actuality bringing Black America to its knees. Thatās a lot to shoulder for a first time rapper turned actor, but T is up to the task, not only showing that he is by far the best ever to cross over from that particular medium, but bringing real presence and charisma that matches up very well against Snipes. Part of Appletonās new approach of making things right is to take a tragically gone crackhead (Chris Rock), get him cleaned up and give him a place to stay while sponsoring him through rehab, and then putting him undercover as an informant in Ninoās operation in order to gather information on him, and it must be said that Rock (best known for his comedic work) is heartbreaking as the poor dumb kid tasked with a responsibility that ultimately proves to be too much for him, and it is later, when Appleton goes undercover himself that the movie really kicks into high gear, with the two stars sharing screen time and the tension ratcheting up tenfold. Certainly solid work is done by the supporting players also, including Allen Payne, Bill Nunn, Christopher Williams, and Vanessa (Not That One) Williams as Ninoās henchmen, Michael Michele as Ninoās beautiful, guilt-wracked girlfriend, Bill Cobbs as an old man of key importance to the story, and cameo appearances by real life hip hop stars like Flavor Flav and Eek-A-Mouse, which also serves to mention the filmās now legendary soundtrack which features among others, 2 Live Crew, Queen Latifah, and Ice T himself. And of course, there is the ending, as powerful an exclamation point as can be put on a story like this, with the perfect amount of meaning and impact and one which insures that this movie will continue to be regarded as a classic for a long time to comeā¦
10/10