This reminded me of my childhood, somehow. Felt like a 90's movie. The kidnapping plot, the wide shots of NYC, the lush feel of the whole production. I liked a lot of this, but it's pretty flawed. It is a throwback movie in a lot of ways. The easy comparison is Ransom 1996. He brought back what a lot of movies used to feel like, big budget, adult themes, big names on the poster, also very black and very hip hop without seeming forced. It's a very fun watch.
What didn't work:
-Whatever ASAP Rocky was doing wasn't convincing as a tough guy, or even an emotionally stunted lost boy, probably because ASAP Rocky is a p*ssy.
-The movie didn't create enough tension to sell the kidnapping scenes, or the fall out. It wasn't convincing. None of that was. There was no real threat of violence or paranoia, or competence from the NYPD. It wasn't done well.
-ASAP Rocky was never established as competent enough to do anything like that.
-Spike Lee doesn't do violence well, it doesn't hit hard enough. The train was a nice touch, throwback to a lot of NYC classics, King Of NYC, The Warriors, Carlito's Way
-Whatever scheme they had going to recover the money wasn't convincing at all
-Neither was the idea they would use all real money,
-The acting from a lot of key parts wasn't strong
-When Trey is brought back, there is no discussion of how it all went down, or where he was.
The whole Ice Spice thing. She was fine as an actress though.
-What really worked:
-Denzels performance and the direction.
-The direction was stronger than most movies I see in general, just a real sense of time, place. Shot on location.
-The set design
-Wright was excellent, but the script hamstrung him. When he was with Denzel he was fire.
-The battle scene between Denzel and Rocky. I liked the Nas, love the hip hop, but the scene felt off. I love that you can hear Nas and Jay lyrics in his work though.
-Sometimes I loved the score, again this is what movies used to sound like, but it needed a tight edit.
It's the best Spike Lee movie in awhile, for me. Better than anything since Inside Man.
. Denzel's age is starting to show. Seems like an expensive BET or Tyler Parry movie instead of a Spike Lee Joint. Gonna watch the rest later. Hope it picks up.
