Great performances in an average, formula blaxploitation film

Rating: 4/10 (30 March 2002)

In 20 years we will look back at this in the same way we look back at movies like Cleopatra Jones, Friday Foster, Foxy Brown, etc... and will take it for what it is: a cheap portrayal of minorities with the basic message that "those drug sellin', gun carryin' blacks and latinos are just gonna kill each other," except for the occasional hero who really wants to "change the way things are." Formula, formula, formula! (At least in most blaxploitation movies, the hero gets to be black!)
Fantastic performances and a high budget help it to stand above other films in the genre. Now, I really enjoy Pam Grier movies, Dolemite, Cleopatra Jones, Shaft, and so on. I can watch those and have a great time. I also enjoyed Training Day, but let's be real about what kind of film this is. At its core, it is blaxploitation.

*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
Stock characters fill the script: a lone hero who is pure of heart and wants to clean things up, a collection of bad guys with one really bad guy who leads them that's in it for the money, and ultimately "whitey" is in control (the nice, older white gentlemen Alonzo meets in the club.) Unimaginative dialog is characteristic of the genre and that detail wasn't overlooked here. (How many times can you say "dawg" and "ni**er" without it being repetitive?)
Worth seeing for an entertaining time, but not high art.