La cara sucia de la ley

Lawrence Fishburne is almost always excellent, but in my opinion one of his finest performances was in the early 90's classic Deep Cover. The film was quite original at the time and was presented in an intelligent manner. Deep Cover was directed by Bill Duke, who you might remember from action classics Predator and Commando. While Deep Cover has its share of action, it is a very gritty and absorbing crime thriller. Lawrence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum started out playing gutter trash thugs in the Death Wish series. Here they play more fully fleshed out characters in a movie that looks at crime in a different way. Lawrence Fishburne goes so deep undercover, it seems like he can never go back.As a whole, I found Deep Cover to be excellent. If you like cop or mob movies, you should take a look at Deep Cover.

Going into seeing this movie, I wasn't sure about what I was going to see. I was expecting something kind of good (because of Roger Ebert's review), but not great (because of some other reviews). But I was not expecting such a good film. Laurence Fishburne (Boyz in the Hood, What's Love Got To Do With It) stars as a cop who has avoided drugs and the crime life because of his father's involvement and death in it. Soon he is offered a job going undercover as a drug dealer. He accepts it. After a little while he gets himself deep into it. He forms partnerships with high ranked drug dealers, which includes Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, Nine Monthes). Soon he becomes less of an undercover cop, but more of a drug dealer. He soon realizes that he is betraying his cause and joining up with them. This presents a problem for him, because he likes the power as a drug dealer and the money, but he also vowed he would never become like his dad. This is a very well done movie, with a great script. Laurence Fishburne is excellent in the lead role. Jeff Goldblum (who I have never seen in such a deep role) is also strong delivering a surprisingly good performance. A good, but violent film.

Wonderfully stylish movie with Laurence Fishburne at his very best. Lots of cool visual techniques and great music (featuring Snoop Dogg's debut with Dr Dre - "187 on an undercover cop"). Jeff Goldblum gives one of his better more enigmatic performances. Lots of cool dialogue with some prosaic (if that's the word!) monologues from Fishburne. A must see - own it on video and watch it over and over...

Hard-hitting and stylish, this film quickly moves beyond the usual notion of 'undercover drug work' into an altogether more practical & unpleasant understanding...

The film is well-paced and, most appropriately for this year, introduces a female art-gallery owner as it develops a relationship subplot. As the story progresses, the film breaks boundaries further & demonstrates an exceptionally sharp sensibility -- but fairly much returns to the standards for the climactic scene.

While not a Scorsese or Tarantino masterpiece, this film is very highly recommended.

Deep Cover stands out as a great example of how to make a good film and has something that is often missing from modern cinema. The cinematography, editing, and music are all outstanding. What's even better is how all those elements tie-in to a well thought out and communicated theme of duality. The two main characters Russel/John (Fishburne) and David (Goldblum) parallel each other nicely, and reinforce the theme perfectly.

On the one hand, there's Russel, the cop determined to make a difference in his community who is then taken advantage of by his superiors and used like a tool. Russel begins demonstrating more and more criminal traits as the film goes on, eventually "becoming" his undercover alter ego John. As a criminal, John is able to do exactly what he set out to do, all while commanding respect and receiving tons of money without any of the red tape he had as a cop. In the end, he has to make a choice, cop or criminal. Work with society and be dishonest to yourself, or work outside of society and be dishonest to "the system".

On the other hand, there's David, a lawyer with a nice wife, house, and kid, but also happens to be a major drug dealer. He too must make the same difficult choice, even stating in the film, "I want my cake and eat it too", which truthfully shows that it is a hard decision.

While Deep Cover is labeled by most as a "hood movie", it is quite different in it's themes from most films in that genre. Instead of simply presenting the inner cities' problems, the filmmakers here try to answer the question of why. Why do young people feel the need to become criminals? Perhaps it's because of the bureaucratic nature of a society that turns it's back on those with strong uncompromising individuality coupled with low income. Maybe not. But unlike most films that answer all the questions they present for their audiences, Deep Cover simply asks the questions, and leaves the answers up to its audience.

The filmmaking here is intelligent, the subject matter is interesting, and the audience is treated with an amount of respect that isn't easy to find in modern film. No, the film isn't perfect, but at least in my eyes, it's very close to being so.