The 90's what a time & my era for growing up & into movies & music & 2pac was already a legend before his tragic death & was establishing himself as a very good solid actor & was really good in Juice & Gridlocked & Poetic Justice to name a few but his best performance in my opinion comes from this superb gritty urban Cop Thriller "Gang Related" as he takes on the more likable & more toned down role of LA Detective Rodriguez who with his more cunning & edgier Partner Detective Divinci played superbly by the excellent James Belushi, as they both go about setting up street scum like Drug dealers for example & make drugs deal with then & then shoot'em & make it look like a "Gang Related" shooting & it's a clever idea to take out the scum & get big cash off the scam but one night their scam goes so wrong when they accidentally kill an undercover DEA Agent & the pressure builds like a boiling pot ready to explode as they the two Cops have to cover their tracks & try to set up a criminal for the murder.
That's the basic plot for this excellent almost Noir style Cop Thriller with plenty of twists & unexpected turns & a superb ensemble cast of talent such as the legendary James Earl Jones & the great Dennis Quaid who gives a very good surprising performance here & a terrifically intense performance from Lela Rechon & even a nice little role for the always enjoyable character actor JAMES HANDY, now Handy plays the police Captain & Boss of Pac's & Belushi's Cops, the Cool thing about Handy here is he played the police Captain of Jim Belushi in both his K-9 cop flicks so it's a nice touch having playing his boss again here & he's a fine actor too.
This is masterfully directed & full of suspenseful scenes & as the pressure builds our two Cops are put to the test of loyalty & we're treated to so many moments that go from worse to worse for these guys & you're on the edge of the seat wandering how they are going to get out of this situation & will they get found out? Exciting & thrilling stuff.
The music score is excellent & almost primal in a "Predator" type of feel to it & it's one of the best scores I've ever heard in a Cop Thriller & not to mention to excellent rap songs from Tupac himself that gives the film it's time Capsule feel of 90's urban movies & the greatest time for Rap music. The look & cinematography is beautiful in it's gritty rawness of the graffiti covered streets & wet & smokey night time scenes & the sweaty hot days it's captured a dangerous feeling underbelly feel of LA abit like what Predator 2 did. Jim Belushi gives probably his greatest "Serious" or "Dramatic" performance of his long & varied Career, now i love Jim Belushi & grew up watching Red Heat, K-9 & K-911, Gang Related & more, Belushi is hilarious at comedy & his Cop Classic's K-9 & Red Heat are two of my all time favourite films that i grew up watching & loving. Here Belushi gives it his all as a great actor & gives us his funny & charming personality we're used to & love him for but also brings a darker side that's dangerous & extremely cunning & sleazy & he's magnificent to watch & works so well with the talented Tupac & both have that chemistry like they've known each other for years!!!
Gang Related is a cracking Cop Thriller that's drenched in style & suspense with two excellent lead performances & a fantastic soundtrack. Pure 90's magnetic movie making. R.I.P 2PAC
The music score is excellent & almost primal in a "Predator" type of feel to it & it's one of the best scores I've ever heard in a Cop Thriller & not to mention to excellent rap songs from Tupac himself that gives the film it's time Capsule feel of 90's urban movies & the greatest time for Rap music. The look & cinematography is beautiful in it's gritty rawness of the graffiti covered streets & wet & smokey night time scenes & the sweaty hot days it's captured a dangerous feeling underbelly feel of LA abit like what Predator 2 did. Jim Belushi gives probably his greatest "Serious" or "Dramatic" performance of his long & varied Career, now i love Jim Belushi & grew up watching Red Heat, K-9 & K-911, Gang Related & more, Belushi is hilarious at comedy & his Cop Classic's K-9 & Red Heat are two of my all time favourite films that i grew up watching & loving. Here Belushi gives it his all as a great actor & gives us his funny & charming personality we're used to & love him for but also brings a darker side that's dangerous & extremely cunning & sleazy & he's magnificent to watch & works so well with the talented Tupac & both have that chemistry like they've known each other for years!!!
Gang Related is a cracking Cop Thriller that's drenched in style & suspense with two excellent lead performances & a fantastic soundtrack. Pure 90's magnetic movie making. R.I.P 2PAC