A tribute to graffiti art and the city where it all began. Blest, a 19-year-old graffiti writer, has just graduated from high school. With no ambition toward mainstream goals of work and fam... Read allA tribute to graffiti art and the city where it all began. Blest, a 19-year-old graffiti writer, has just graduated from high school. With no ambition toward mainstream goals of work and family, he spends his time bombing the city with graffiti messages until he and his crew beco... Read allA tribute to graffiti art and the city where it all began. Blest, a 19-year-old graffiti writer, has just graduated from high school. With no ambition toward mainstream goals of work and family, he spends his time bombing the city with graffiti messages until he and his crew become the most wanted bombers by the corrupt NYPD Vandal Squad. He even attracts major media ... Read all
- Awards
- 6 wins & 2 nominations total
- Kevin 'Lune' Broady
- (as Jade Yorker)
- Self
- (as Lee Quinones)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
if u view Graf as vandalism, don't watch this movie...
or better yet go out Bombin' and feel the realness of life on the run...
I tried to give this movie a chance. But there were just too many things that bugged me... The writing for instance, all the graffiti terminology was incorrectly used. When a graffiti writer goes "Bombing" he does not go out and do full illegal murals. Nobody even mentions doing "fill-ins" or "throwups" which are the most commonly used terms/acts by graf-writers. They call them "pieces" in the movie, which is completely wrong. Those are just some examples...
It became pretty obvious that the filmmakers knew little or Nothing about graffiti. Just because you know about Sane & Smith, and heard a couple chase stories from your NYU buddy, isn't enough to go out and make a significant Graffiti movie. There is some "cool" cinematography in this, which isn't bad. But that's it. Storyline is similar to the likes of Wild Style or Beat Street (a hip hop love story). But even those movies were made with less pretension than this.
First off, the actual presentation, filming, camera movement, effects, etc. are all extremely artistic and original. The entire movie just makes you feel empathetic for the characters. The atmosphere, the scenery, all of it. Interludes between scenes of the main character always running, just running away.
The music is good too. It's all done by El-P, for anyone familiar with Def-Jux.
The whole movie though, it's just amazing... So many people overlooked this. Everything is just done so brutally realistic, how the way characters react and think, how life really can just be ****ed up. It's a powerful movie and the ending is the best part. (be warned though... it's sad...)
"Bomb the system" had great acting, really good filming, decent script, and some nice "tags"(they don't dwell on any of the pieces long enough unfortunately). My only complaints were: the girlfriend, she was too stereo typical, and anti-captilist. Also the lack of an in depth look at actual street art(graffiti). All in all the I loved this movie, and would recommend it to anyone, whether they are into graff or not.
8 out of 10 stars
Watch it now!
Did you know
- GoofsThe word "precinct" is misspelled in the newspaper headline that is seen after the undercover police car is tagged with graffiti.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 2004 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (2004)
- How long is Bomb the System?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $15,520
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,551
- May 29, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $15,520
- Runtime
- 1h 31m(91 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1