"Waist Deep" plunges much deeper than that into good old-fashioned genre filmmaking. Director Vondie Curtis Hall gives this virtually nonstop crime actioner, set against the mean streets of Los Angeles, pleasing noirish touches along with larger-than-life-size characters. The Rogue Pictures release is pitched to urban houses so blacks will predominately make up the audience for the well-made film.
Tyrese Gibson, after two fine performances in the John Singleton films "Baby Boy" and "Four Brothers", carries the movie on his broad shoulders, though the impossibly good-looking Meagan Good makes a solid action co-star. The opening sequence in the screenplay by Hall and Darin Scott (from a story by Michael Mahern) is overly contrived, but does set off a classic race against the clock.
A newly paroled ex-con named O2 (Gibson) has somehow landed a security job that gives him access to a gun. When his flaky cousin Lucky (Larenz Tate) fails to pick up O2's son, Junior (H. Hunter Hall), from school, O2 must leave his job before a replacement shows up, taking the gun with him, to pick up the boy.
Then, tooling down Adams Boulevard, O2 has his car jacked by hoods with his boy still inside. This leads to a well-executed foot-and-car chase through traffic with guns going off and bad guys shot, but O2 ultimately loses the car -- and his beloved son. His only connection to the carjackers is a hustler named Coco (Good), who apparently was assigned the job of distracting O2 before the assault. He forces Coco at gunpoint to join him in his crusade to get back his son.
Since O2 has two strikes against him under California's "three strikes" law, he can't go to the police -- certainly not after that highly visible shootout. Lucky finds out that O2's son is being held by a notorious gang leader named Meat (hip-hop star the Game). Meat is demanding $100,000 in two days for Junior's release. So what's an ex-con trying to go straight to do but rob a couple of gang houses and then a few banks to raise the coin?
For a while, O2 and Coco play with the idea of robbing rival gangs to pit them against each other. Somehow this intriguing plot element gets frittered away in the need for action. The robberies themselves are so far-fetched that Hall wisely plays them for laughs. In another mischievous touch, the 48-hour action occurs amid a sea of street protests by South L.A. residents demanding the mayor and police keep their neighborhoods safe. One ambush of the unlucky Lucky happens right behind a rally without one angry participant noticing the gangsters or their guns.
Hall paces the film expertly so he can work in calmer moments for his two desperate characters to open up to each other and explore a blossoming friendship. Along with cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, Hall goes for a straightforward yet often striking visual style that allows for a mobile camera and stunts that flow smoothly from characters' actions. In the early going, though, characters in their cars are framed so tightly you wish for a few wider angles so you can see where all the cars and people are positioned.
Terence Blanchard and Denaun Porter's music is serviceable, while Warren A. Young's production design and Marie France's costumes go for a natural though dramatically heightened look. For the record, Junior is played by the son of the director and his actress-director wife, Kasi Lemmons.
WAIST DEEP
Rogue Pictures
Rogue Pictures and Intrepid Pictures present a Radar Pictures and RSVP Prods. production
Credits:
Director: Vondie Curtis Hall
Screenwriters: Vondie Curtis Hall, Darin Scott
Story: Michael Mahern
Producer: Preston Holmes
Executive producers: Ted Field, Trevor Macy, Marc D. Evans, Russell Simmons, Stan Lathan, Amy Kaufman, A. Demetrius Brown
Director of photography: Shane Hurlbut
Production designer: Warren A. Young
Music: Terence Blanchard, Denaun Porter
Costume designer: Marie France
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire. Cast: 02: Tyrese Gibson
Coco: Meagan Good
Lucky: Larenz Tate
Meat: The Game
Junior: H. Hunter Hall
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 97 minutes...
Tyrese Gibson, after two fine performances in the John Singleton films "Baby Boy" and "Four Brothers", carries the movie on his broad shoulders, though the impossibly good-looking Meagan Good makes a solid action co-star. The opening sequence in the screenplay by Hall and Darin Scott (from a story by Michael Mahern) is overly contrived, but does set off a classic race against the clock.
A newly paroled ex-con named O2 (Gibson) has somehow landed a security job that gives him access to a gun. When his flaky cousin Lucky (Larenz Tate) fails to pick up O2's son, Junior (H. Hunter Hall), from school, O2 must leave his job before a replacement shows up, taking the gun with him, to pick up the boy.
Then, tooling down Adams Boulevard, O2 has his car jacked by hoods with his boy still inside. This leads to a well-executed foot-and-car chase through traffic with guns going off and bad guys shot, but O2 ultimately loses the car -- and his beloved son. His only connection to the carjackers is a hustler named Coco (Good), who apparently was assigned the job of distracting O2 before the assault. He forces Coco at gunpoint to join him in his crusade to get back his son.
Since O2 has two strikes against him under California's "three strikes" law, he can't go to the police -- certainly not after that highly visible shootout. Lucky finds out that O2's son is being held by a notorious gang leader named Meat (hip-hop star the Game). Meat is demanding $100,000 in two days for Junior's release. So what's an ex-con trying to go straight to do but rob a couple of gang houses and then a few banks to raise the coin?
For a while, O2 and Coco play with the idea of robbing rival gangs to pit them against each other. Somehow this intriguing plot element gets frittered away in the need for action. The robberies themselves are so far-fetched that Hall wisely plays them for laughs. In another mischievous touch, the 48-hour action occurs amid a sea of street protests by South L.A. residents demanding the mayor and police keep their neighborhoods safe. One ambush of the unlucky Lucky happens right behind a rally without one angry participant noticing the gangsters or their guns.
Hall paces the film expertly so he can work in calmer moments for his two desperate characters to open up to each other and explore a blossoming friendship. Along with cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, Hall goes for a straightforward yet often striking visual style that allows for a mobile camera and stunts that flow smoothly from characters' actions. In the early going, though, characters in their cars are framed so tightly you wish for a few wider angles so you can see where all the cars and people are positioned.
Terence Blanchard and Denaun Porter's music is serviceable, while Warren A. Young's production design and Marie France's costumes go for a natural though dramatically heightened look. For the record, Junior is played by the son of the director and his actress-director wife, Kasi Lemmons.
WAIST DEEP
Rogue Pictures
Rogue Pictures and Intrepid Pictures present a Radar Pictures and RSVP Prods. production
Credits:
Director: Vondie Curtis Hall
Screenwriters: Vondie Curtis Hall, Darin Scott
Story: Michael Mahern
Producer: Preston Holmes
Executive producers: Ted Field, Trevor Macy, Marc D. Evans, Russell Simmons, Stan Lathan, Amy Kaufman, A. Demetrius Brown
Director of photography: Shane Hurlbut
Production designer: Warren A. Young
Music: Terence Blanchard, Denaun Porter
Costume designer: Marie France
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire. Cast: 02: Tyrese Gibson
Coco: Meagan Good
Lucky: Larenz Tate
Meat: The Game
Junior: H. Hunter Hall
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 97 minutes...
- 6/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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