Well, I guess we’re going over all the nineties underrated classics. Despite being a bit silly and over-the-top at times, New Jack City is a gritty thriller featuring a relatively realistic story. A story about one crime lord and his struggle to be the top drug dealer in New York. Of course, if you’re dealing crack cocaine, that’s not going to be difficult. The movie not only shows the meteoric rise of this vicious drug but also its horrific consequences. None other than Chris Rock plays Pookie, a crackhead who wants to turn his life around. His performance was excellent and I wonder why his acting career didn’t take off.
Probably because he’s such a good stand-up comic. After the huge success of the movie people kept putting crack cocaine in his pockets at parties to “help him out”. And while Rock never tried the rock, I was surprised to find out that he only smoked weed twice in his life. However, the star of the show is young Wesley Snipes who plays Nino Brown, a ruthless drug lord willing to do anything to get to the top. Opposite of him we have Ice-T and Mario Van Peebles as cops who are trying to stop him. Mario also directed this movie and did a pretty good job. Although I think the amount of Dutch (tilted) shots is too damn high. That’s how we got that meme of Wesley Snipes crying as he’s about to shoot his friend over money.
He made a highly stylish crime movie taking place in the hood during the eighties, a time when the crack epidemic was rampant. The movie doesn’t dwell on the violence or action, opting for a more entertaining route. At times it even feels like a music video, a veritable time machine. This is why it stands out in the sea of similar movies. I’m not really sure that this was intentional as this is also Mario Van Peebles’s directorial debut. The reason why the main story in New Jack City feels so authentic is because it’s inspired by actual events. So, the movie gang Cash Money Brothers is based on the Chambers Brothers, a real Detroit gang.
And just like in the movie, they took over an entire apartment building turning it into a drug dealing fortress. It’s so surreal to think that almost forty years later the formula remains the same. And it remains the same not just in the United States but also all across the world. For example, both in France and in Italy, you have the same huge apartment buildings that serve as drug dealing fortresses. Many have called New Jack City the black Scarface. The comparison is quite fitting since this is Nino Brown’s favorite movie. And he keeps mentioning it throughout the movie.
Moving on, this is one of the first movies to highlight the devastation of the crack epidemic in black neighborhoods. During the next few years, this new subgenre of gangsta or hood movies saw a huge increase in popularity. Boyz n the Hood, Menace II Society, and Juice starring Tupac Shakur are just some of the examples. Actually, Shakur auditioned for the role of Gee Money and was ultimately turned down because of his youthful appearance. Most of these movies take place in sunny California but not the one we’re talking about today.
This one takes place in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. And you can definitely feel that you’re there. Finally, I want to talk about two things. The first one is the ending, which says: “Although this is a fictional story, there are Nino Browns in every major city in America. If we don’t confront the problem realistically — without empty slogans and promises — then drugs will continue to destroy our country”. A prophetic statement, you must agree. To end on a positive note, one of the songs on my nineties gangsta rap playlist is Ice-T’s New Jack Hustler. It’s a classic and I highly recommend you check it out.
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Writers: Thomas Lee Wright, Barry Michael Cooper
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne, Chris Rock, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, Bill Nunn
Fun Facts: Chris Rock’s performance as Pookie, the crackhead was so influential that people began saying that they’re about to get pookied when they were about to do hard drugs. Rock also mentions him in his latest stand-up special saying that Will Smith chose to slap Pookie.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102526/
