Bis zum Hals

An ex-con (Tyrese Gibson) trying to go straight is pulled back into the life after his young son (Henry Hunter Hall) is kidnapped by an urban gang led by a sadistic machete-wielding boss (The Game). Throw in red-hot small-time hustler Meagan Good and borderline alcoholic Larenz Tate (as Gibson's inept cousin) and we have a typical modern-day crime picture that has lots more bullets than brains. Gibson and Good make an alluring couple, but neither have much talent in the end. The Game is down-right creepy and Tate seems like he is just going through the motions after successful roles in "Ray" and "Crash". "Waist Deep" stays at an adequate spot for a good portion of its running time, but then finally sinks with an unwanted and ridiculous final act. Will definitely be mentioned with the lesser productions of the year. 2 stars out of 5.

WAIST DEEP follows a tried and true formula: Ex-con's son is kidnapped by his ex-partner in crime, a ransom is demanded, the ex-con works diligently to put together the ransom while doing his best to undermine his old partner, and there's a final showdown between them. The kid is cute, the ex-con is an impressive slab of beef, the former partner is suitably menacing and fugly beyond belief, and of course there's a pretty female to help things along. The formula works most of the time, but the movie is so predictable that in the end I asked myself why I bothered to rent it. There is a heckuva car chase near the end that sort of makes up for a dull middle. The movie, which could have just as easily starred Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson in his prime, clearly was aimed at an urban audience even though it was heavily marketed as a mainstream flick. That's why I rented it. It could have been a lot worse, I suppose.

OK, my Mrs wanted to watch it for a few days but I thought it was going to be the usual muscle bound stuff which is synonymous with a Tyrese title. But was I wrong. The film captures you from the off with good sounds and fast moving filming. The story is predictable but enjoyable and left me with a nice taste in my mouth. Unfortunately it has taken Tyrese almost 20 years from his coke advert to finally make a film in which we see a little talent. In closing I was very happy because with a film like this you can only score on action but they were some strong roles (not award winning but there hasn't been much of that lately anyhow).

Waist Deep is another in the never ending black gangster films depicting a group of people the simply don't exist anywhere. O2, the misunderstood ex-con trying to get his life back on track, gets car-jacked while his son is sleeping the back seat of the car. His son winds up in the hands of a gangster that owns the streets, dismembering and killing with impunity. O2 and his posse rob banks and rich people trying to get enough money to buy his son back. Lots of action and blood in a well made film with inadequate dialog. If you like lots of gangster speak and culture, you'll like this film. Otherwise, it's a lot like all the other gangster films out there – pick one.

In South Los Angeles, while bringing his beloved son Junior (H. Hunter Hall) back home from school, the paroled ex-convicted O2 (Tyrese Gibson) promises his son that he would always come back to him and never leave him alone. However, his car is hijacked and Junior is kidnapped. Without any lead, O2 forces the street vendor Coco (Meagan Good) to help him to find where his car might have been sent for disassembling. Meanwhile, O2's addicted brother Lucky (Larenz Tate) discovers that the cruel leader of the Outlaw Syndicate, the drug lord Meat (The Game), is keeping the boy arrested in a room and asking a ransom of US$ 100,000.00 that he believes O2 have from an old heist. O2 and Coco plot a scheme to put the pimp P-Money and Meat against each other and steal their money.

"Waist Deep" is another good movie of gangsters in Los Angeles that never disappoints. The story is full of action and violent with excellent direction of Vondie Curtis-Hall, the cast has great performances and Tyrese Gibson and Meagan Good show a wonderful chemistry. It seems that there are viewers in IMDb that do not like this genre, but spend their time watching this type of movie apparently just to write bad reviews. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Ruas Sangrentas – O Acerto Final" ("Bloody Streets – The Final Payback")