GANG RELATED
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0 Alternative Scale: *** out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 10/8/97 (wide) Running Length: 1:50 MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, violence, nudity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: James Belushi, Tupac Shakur, Wendy Crewson, Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones, David Paymer, Gary Cole Director: Jim Kauf Producers: Brad Krevoy, Steven Stabler, John Bertolli Screenplay: Jim Kauf Cinematography: Brian H. Reynolds Music: Mickey Hart U.S. Distributor: Orion Pictures
GANG RELATED will forever be known as Tupac Shakur's last film. In fact, that's how it's being marketed. As final features go, this isn't a bad one (for the ultimate in ignominious send-offs, see Donald Pleasance's curtain call in HALLOWEEN 6), and Shakur is in top form. The movie is a generally well-written yarn about police corruption that gets out of hand. For 90% of its 110 minute running length, GANG RELATED is taut, well-paced, and clever. It's too bad that the conclusion, despite retaining a sense of unpredictability, is a let- down. Characters act irrationally to facilitate a few more ironic twists of plot.
On the whole, however, GANG RELATED is an enjoyable, if extremely profane, example of movie-making. The script, from writer/director Jim Kauf (who previously penned the screenplay for both STAKEOUT movies, and last directed with 1989's DISORGANIZED CRIME) mixes action, tension, and low-key comedy. Our heroes (who are actually anti-heroes) are Davinci (James Belushi) and Rodriguez (Tupac Shakur), a pair of bent cops who have just been caught in the Murphy's Law corner of the Twilight Zone. What at first seems like a relatively straightforward caper turns into a nightmare as circumstances conspire to plunge them into a tangled web of bad breaks and worse luck.
Their plan is seemingly simple: sell cocaine taken from the police evidence room to a drug dealer, kill him using a gun also lifted from the evidence room, then replace the gun and coke before anyone is the wiser. The results: an apparent gang related slaying of human refuse, plus Davinci and Rodriguez get to pocket the profits of their illicit drug sale. With the help of Davinci's stripper girlfriend, Cynthia (WAITING TO EXHALE's Lela Rochon), the pair has successfully pulled this con nine times. Ten isn't their lucky number. On this occasion, their victim is an undercover DEA agent, and they're put in the uncomfortable position of having to investigate a murder they committed. And that's before things start to go really wrong…
While GANG RELATED's script isn't a masterpiece, the situation it postulates is suitably delicious. The film probably contains enough action to qualify as a thriller, but it's really more of a black comedy. Kauf has fun toying with his characters and their situations, constantly one-upping himself in the "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" department. I won't give away any specifics beyond the initial setup, because that would spoil the primary entertainment value of the movie. Sadly, however, Kauf is at a loss when it comes to wrapping things up, and the anticlimactic, routine finale lacks the panache evident throughout most of the running time. The final scene is in keeping with the rest of the film, but the events leading up to it are dubious at best. But, because only a few minutes are so out of synch, minimal damage was done to my appreciation of the movie as a whole.
It's no surprise that Tupac Shakur is good in his role as a bad cop with a conscience. In films like POETIC JUSTICE and, more recently, GRIDLOCK'D, Shakur has shown himself to be a talented actor, and it goes without saying that his untimely death has robbed the motion picture community of a promising star. The actor who really surprised me here was James Belushi, who is very good as Davinci, the cynical mastermind behind the kill-the-drug-dealer-and-get-the-money scheme. I've never been terribly impressed by Belushi's range, but his performance here is relentlessly on-target. The supporting players are also good, with solid work turned in by Lela Rochon, James Earl Jones (as a high-priced lawyer), Wendy Crewson (as the prosecutor who is unpleasantly surprised by disappearing witnesses and evidence), and Dennis Quaid (as a homeless man who plays a pivotal role in the proceedings).
Kauf, whose STAKEOUT was a lighter blend of the same kind of elements at work here, knows just how to play the material to keep it enjoyable. That's not an easy task, considering that the main characters are pretty reprehensible and the basic plotline is about covering up the accidental murder of a cop. Nevertheless, in part because of a series of good performances and in part because Kauf approaches things with confidence, the results are positive. GANG RELATED may not be PULP FICTION, but it's not a bad foray into tangential territory.
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@mail.cybernex.net
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- Jean-Luc Godard
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