New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Lightweight
Summary: 2 Stars
This film has been mentioned in the same breath as so called "hood films" such as Clockers and Menace 2 Society, I had heard it was set in a NYCHA housing project and so I bought it partly for visual research purposes for an upcoming final year degree project which may or may not involve architectural renderings of a NYCHA housing project, but partly because I enjoyed other apparently similar films.
This film is absolute lightweight all the way. It may be "important", and back in '91 it may have been hardcore, gritty, convincing, etc. etc. but watching it in 2005 it packs a weak punch.
It is not set in a NYCHA project, and the street lifestyle that is tackled so superbly for example in Menace is never even approached here. This movie instead chooses to go the route of King of New York, but Wesley Snipes is no Frank White. New Jack was instead set around an apartment building called "The Carter", which were we not told it was a crackden looked like a pricey, well-kept appartment block that totally lacked any edge or atmosphere whatsoever.
The film utilised several times a helicopter fly-over of the area surrounding "The Carter", in much the same vein the beginning of Menace panned over Watts and Jordan Downs; but where Menace succeeded in capturing a palpable atmosphere of feral ghetto landscape and an implied simmering below the surface with its fly-over scene, New Jack's left you wondering why the film's director bothered setting the movie in such an unintimidating place, and then bothered to show it to you by means of a helicpter fly-over.
Snipes and his crew look like a wannabe Run DMC, never convincing, never gritty, none of the darker more subtle aspects of criminality of the nature apparently portrayed in this film are ever even brushed upon. Snipes' Toni Montana impressions made me cringe, however good they may have been. This film was not tuned in, it simply didn't appear to have its feet on the ground.
Ice T was plain annoying with his pseudo-racist, "street" policeman with the most annoying voice, accent and lines I have come across. He acted out every simple-minded stereotype of the character he was trying to portray, all the while smug and convinced of his own worth. Every scene with him in it annoyed me immensely.
The only characters who seemed to do a stand-up job were Chris Rock's crack-head, and Mario Van Peebles' detective.
New Jack is a lightweight crime drama that fails to deliver on most of its chosen frontiers, there are other films out there that tackle New Jack's chosen subjects in immeasurably superior ways.
Movie Review: I saw this when i was 16 and i wanted to be just like snipes
Summary: 3 Stars
we all know the late 80's early 90's was fill with bad hair does , crappy clothes and crazy dance craze, why am tellin you this??? well when i first saw New Jack City i wanted to be a bad guy talk about dumb & impressionable, well let's say i don't feel the same way now (thank god!!) This movie is really a star studded movie before many of the stars became bigger stars, i must say that Wesley Snipes was great!!!, Judd Nelson sucked in this movie, and as for his presence this movie lost one star in my rating, however Chris Rock as a crack head ha! ha! ha! well that was fun!!! and Ice-t weeell ummmh, seriously once you can look past some of the bad acting, this movie ain't all that bad, when i look at it now it surely brings back memories, ""look how far we come baaaaby" well buy this movie and form your own opinion it's defintely worth a try laterzzzz folks.Movie Review: Sorry, but it has nothing to do with Scarface and Godfather
Summary: 5 Stars
Sorry, but just the fact that they changed the view from the criminal to the police officer, it totally changes the theme of the movie and the way it develops itself. New Jack City was sure a movie that had an impact in the 90's.Movie Review: A rip off of Scarface and the Godfather
Summary: 2 Stars
This movie is a clear rip off of Scarface and The Godfather. In fact the story is essentially exactly the same as The Godfather with the Scarface coke empire thrown in. The only difference is that there is the cops view of the events that go down and of course the fact that all of the main characters save one are black. Despite the fact that this movie is a blatant rip off I did enjoy it mainly because of Wesley Snipes acting. Other than that its been done before and been done much better.Movie Review: One of the best Gangster Classics of All Time!
Summary: 4 Stars
Hailed by movie critic, Roger Ebert, as one of the best gangster classics of all time alongside "The Godfather", and "Scarface", "New Jack City" is an instant and extroardinary classic. Though many movie critics in the past and now have failed to see the true art of this film, other movie critics have understood the film's powerful message about the crack epidemic that became rampant during the late 80's. In addition, this film not only struck a cord in Hollywood with it's shocking message, but helped to establish the careers of actors Ice-T and Wesley Snipes and definetly put successful black films on the map, which helped to usher in the new black film movement paving the way for other "hood" classics that would dominate the screen during the early 90's. Moreover, director, Mario Van Peebles, though never given any credit for his work, is an excellent filmmaker doing what he does best by displaying his excellent camera work while, at the same time, teaching the African-American youth the dangers of drugs and how it leads to a person's downfall. The message of this film was plain and simple: Crack can lead a person nowhere in life and can damage the lives of others. If we do not continue to fight the war on drugs, then drugs will continue to destroy our country. This message along with the film, itself, should deserve mention in any film that has a positive message, and "New Jack City" will always be an extroardinary gangster classic that will continue to teach people about the choices that we make and how it will determine whether or not we will reach our downfalls.