Ruas Sangrentas: O Acerto Final

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).

This isn't a great movie but it's good, fun, mindless entertainment.

I'm a huge fan of "Gridlock'd" and went into this film expecting a clever take on the action genre from Vondie Curtis Hall. What I got was an action-packed movie that borrowed from many films before it; its saving grace is its urban twist, the tongue in cheek humor (Kimora Lee's cameo is priceless) and its stars, Tyrese Gibson, Meagan Good and Larenz Tate. If you're fans of either actor, you'll allow yourself to believe the unbelievable moments--and there are many of them.

The action is non-stop, the hip hop soundtrack delivers in all the right places and you could plant a pretty garden in the plot holes but you'll certainly get your money's worth with the gunfights, beautiful people and adrenaline racing chase scenes--and in the end, isn't that what action films are all about?

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")

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.