New Jack City

The "Godfather" films transcended their mobster genre; New Jack City doesn't, but it's a great genre film, edgy, vibrant and full of urgent color.

The film's flamboyant portrait of Nino may be stereotypical, but Mr. Snipes makes it chilling.

Modeling his work after the old Warner Bros. gangster movies of the '30s and '40s, and using plenty of shootouts, Van Peebles still manages to instill a highly personal sense of urgency about the need to eradicate the crack trade. That passion flares through the script by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper, a former addict who coined the phrase ''new jack'' to describe the flashy style of deprived inner-city youth eager to get rich quick by any means. [8 Mar 1991, p.E3]

Filmmakers pull off a provocative, pulsating update on gangster pics with this action-laden epic about the rise and fall of an inner city crack dealer. Strongest element is the anger and disgust directed squarely at drug dealers.

Bad as the overall design remains, individual scenes keep sparking alive, partly because the dialogue, or delivery, seems fresh, and improvisatory; partly because Van Peebles, in his directorial debut, figures out unusual or athletic camera designs for every scene. It's obvious he has talent, equally obvious there's no way this story can work right, no matter how strenuous the staging.

Despite its preachiness, we all know New Jack City is making the right statement on drugs, racism, the system, etc. But the fact is it's not very good.

In New Jack City, director Mario Van Peebles seems determined to show that he can make a movie as shallow and violent as any white Hollywood hack. No problem: He did it. [8 Mar 1991, p.G12]