Gang Related

Good movie....has a few twists and turns you don't expect. Both James Belushi & the late Tupac Shakur were well cast in the main roles - especially Belushi - this role being very different from his usual ones.

The only other two cast members that have some grunt in the movie are Lela Rochon and Dennis Quaid. James Earl Jones has an appearance - if only small - but for me I will never be able to disassociate him from the voice we have all come to know as Darth Vader.

Dennis Quaid however does some lime light stealing - but you'll just have to watch it to find out why! Overall good entertainment - may not be everyone's cup of tea - but had me engrossed. In a sense a typical good cops go wrong movie - but one that at least grabs you and sucks you in to watching it to find out what happens next.

I gave it a 7/10.

GANG RELATED (1997) ***

Starring: James Belushi, Tupac Shakur, Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones, and David Paymer Written and directed by: Jim Kouf Running Time: 106 minutes Rated R (for strong pervasive language, violence, sexual situations, and some nudity)

By Blake French:

My expectations for "Gang Related" weren't exactly peak high when I decided to screen it. The production just didn't look like anything new to be added into the gritty undercover street cop genre. I was wrong, and the film is somewhat original. I liked the film and its gritty ghetto style it is shot in. I recommend it to those of you looking for a violence action picture with an attitude.

The film's setup begins a little week, but then triggers a series of unpredictable events that connect to each other in a distributive fashion. The two main characters are FBI agents Divinci (James Belushi), and Rodriguez (Tupac Shakur). They are corrupt cops, taking the law into their own hands in many cases, sometimes resulting in murder. One night, Divinci and Rodriguez undercover a drug bust that ends in them shooting the seeming criminal dead. As it turns out, the so called drug lord was actually an undercover cop.

The movie's intentions are clear from the first act; we are watching a story from the bad guys point of view. It is an unconventional idea. The opening contains to little dramatic material to go much anywhere, so the rest of the film much hinge of from it. We meet two characters, receive some development that explains to us these are down on their luck, profane, unrighteous individuals, and are then propelled into the rest of the plot, which basically details the complications of the villain's bad choices.

Once Divinci and Rodriguez learn the identity of the man they brutally killed, they panic. Their first intentions. Since they are the cops assigned to this high pressure case, that they will need to come up with a either a criminal suspect who will plead guilty to their dastardly deed, or frame a crime friendly fellow who can't prove he didn't commit their murder. In the streets they come from, crime and murder is an everyday occurrence, so their plans should work out a-okay...right.

I really liked where the film goes from here: In desperation, Divinci and Rodriguez decide to frame a homeless bum for their murderous crime, played tremendously convincing by Dennis Quaid. The bearded man selected is so out of it, he doesn't even remember his name. So our two incisive corrupters give him a name, plant evidence, explain to him a story which he believes happened, and bribe him to confession.

Characters who enter the story afterward are Cynthia (Lela Rochon), a stripper who is persuaded to lend a deceitful but helping hand to Divinci and Rodriguez, powerful lawyer Arthur Baylor James (Earl Jones), who comes to the rescue of the bum's hopeless defense, and another "lesser" lawyer named Elliot Goff (David Paymer).

"Gang Related" contains a story that is as involving and intriguing as any action picture in the last several years. It uncommonly has unpredictable elements inside. The complication of the conflict are tense and involving as the characters sink themselves into a deeper pit of despair and trouble. But one thing came across my mind as I watched Divinci and Rodriguez work up a taut sweat as they make life or death cover up choices, why don't they just flee the country?

Jim Kouf, who wrote and directed this final film to star the late Tupac Shakur, observes decent performances with the strong dramatic impulse manifested. He holds nothing back, and at times goes over the edge a little in his style of direction. The atmosphere created in "Gang Related" is abrasive, pervasive, and indiscreetly tough. But with such a movie titled "Gang Related," what would you expect?

Brought to you by Orion Pictures.

Much better movie than I expected. Jim Belushi and Tupac Shakur have a good chemistry as 2 crooked, conflicted cops. Tupac Shakur actually played a very good character as the increasingly troubled cop. He was willing to bend some rules, and put some money in his pocket, but things have now gone entirely too far for him. Jim Belushi plays a morally dumb cop who continues to make the situation worse, and continues to believe he can probably manipulate his way out of anything.

Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones and Lela Rochon were all excellent.

I didn't expect too much from this, but I was drawn into a well-done, well-acted movie.

I didn't have very high expectations for this one (partly because I am not terribly keen on James Belushi) but actually, the film was pretty good.

The important thing is to understand the film as a thriller, rather than as a realistic or atmospheric piece. The subject matter and designated environment would point to noir, but the film fails to capture a sense of place or encapsulate an environment and way of life in a way that would justify such a designation. The environment is not actually unrealistic, but again it is not really captured either. Instead, the grit and indeed realism, tends to throw off the viewer, causing him to anticipate a different type of film. "Gang Related" is about plot, and there are a satisfactory number of twists and turns for the viewer. One could easily imagine a movie like this being adapted to the stage.

The acting is generally of a very high standard with strong performances by Shakur and Belushi. The weakness of this film is rather in the fact that the film fails to create or capture a set of especially nuanced characters, and similarly fails to create a strong sense of place. A different director and different cinematography could have done this without substantial alteration. The dramatic twists and turns in the plot also could be considered a weakness, but this would be due to a misunderstanding of the type of story being told, rather than because that story is in itself a bad one.

Gang Related had a great premise, which was enough to get me to want to see it. James Belushi (K-9, Race the Sun) and the late Tupac Shakur (Gridlocked, Poetic Justice) play two corrupt cops. They sell stolen drugs, kill the guy they sold it to, take the drugs & money, and label the crime as gang related. This has worked for the first ten times, but the 11th doesn't. The 11th guy they killed, turned out to be an undercover cop. So the two are put in charge of finding the killer. So knowing that they themselves killed him and could be in huge trouble, they begin to look for possible candidates to take the fall. Eventually they decide on a homeless man, wonderfully played by an unrecognizable Dennis Quaid (Switchback, Dragonheart). They then get Belushi's girlfriend and stripper, Lela Rochon (Waiting to Exhale, The Chamber) to testify against him. Soon though things don't work out as Rochon starts to lose confidence and more evidence comes out about the mysterious homeless man. Belushi and Shakur start to lose their trust and confidence with each other. This is a well-written film with some great dialogue and an awesome ending. James Belushi is great as the mastermind behind the plot and the one who won't give up. Tupac Shakur is just as good (in his final role) as the partner who has at least some sort of a conscience. Rochon is good. Fine support work is turned in by James Earl Jones and David Paymer as Quaid's lawyers. I highly recommend this movie. Rated R: (violence, language, nudity)