I remembered Tyrese Gibson as the hypnotically handsome (and narcissistic) man-child from "Baby Boy", and as the most interesting actor in "Four Brothers", and I was looking forward to seeing what he could do in a noir style action film. I didn't expect "Othello" or anything, and I didn't get it. But this was an OK piece of entertainment that got over on slick sets, good looking actors and high production values.
The plot borrows liberally from many pictures before it. It plays very fast and loose with the audiences' sense of credibility; the hero pulls off so many seemingly impossible stunts here that there is a major "oh suuuuure" factor here. In fact, if I had to sum it up in a few words, it would be "'Commando' featuring a black protagonist in a deep urban setting."
Yes, I'm serious. Think about it: Larger than life muscular ultraman is retired from from his former life of violence and black ops; he is pulled back into that life when his child is kidnapped. On the way, the first woman he bumps into is dragged along into his adventures and eventually becomes his ally and a member of his family. Sound familiar? So things go pretty much 'by the numbers' here. Anyone who has watched action/adventure movies for more than a couple of years could chart every plot point and development in the story arc at least 10 minutes before it happens on screen. The actors are very attractive in a highly buffed up MTV way, but the characters they play are as shallow as a baking pan, and it's hard to work up too much interest in them, since you know exactly what they are going to do and say.
Still everyone (even the little boy) is able to really 'act' at a professional feature film level, as opposed to most glamor figures who just project an attitude. Compare most of the actors here to some 3rd rate fluff piece like "Cradle 2 the Grave", and the actors here come off much better than C2G's department store mannequins. I especially admired poor Larenz Tate, stuck with the 'weak' 2nd banana role as Gibson's cousin. He put a lot of juice into his character and really worked it. He reminded me somewhat of the way that Colin Farrell will use his eyes and mouth to simultaneously project weakness and bravado. The role sucked, but he did his best to make it succeed, and many actors would have been much worse in the role.
"Waist Deep" is worth seeing for an evening of undemanding entertainment, but not much more. I am not sure how this film will do at the box office - I was the only one watching it at my local cineplex the evening I was there - but I hope it makes some money for the people involved so they can continue to grow as storytellers and movie makers.
The plot borrows liberally from many pictures before it. It plays very fast and loose with the audiences' sense of credibility; the hero pulls off so many seemingly impossible stunts here that there is a major "oh suuuuure" factor here. In fact, if I had to sum it up in a few words, it would be "'Commando' featuring a black protagonist in a deep urban setting."
Yes, I'm serious. Think about it: Larger than life muscular ultraman is retired from from his former life of violence and black ops; he is pulled back into that life when his child is kidnapped. On the way, the first woman he bumps into is dragged along into his adventures and eventually becomes his ally and a member of his family. Sound familiar? So things go pretty much 'by the numbers' here. Anyone who has watched action/adventure movies for more than a couple of years could chart every plot point and development in the story arc at least 10 minutes before it happens on screen. The actors are very attractive in a highly buffed up MTV way, but the characters they play are as shallow as a baking pan, and it's hard to work up too much interest in them, since you know exactly what they are going to do and say.
Still everyone (even the little boy) is able to really 'act' at a professional feature film level, as opposed to most glamor figures who just project an attitude. Compare most of the actors here to some 3rd rate fluff piece like "Cradle 2 the Grave", and the actors here come off much better than C2G's department store mannequins. I especially admired poor Larenz Tate, stuck with the 'weak' 2nd banana role as Gibson's cousin. He put a lot of juice into his character and really worked it. He reminded me somewhat of the way that Colin Farrell will use his eyes and mouth to simultaneously project weakness and bravado. The role sucked, but he did his best to make it succeed, and many actors would have been much worse in the role.
"Waist Deep" is worth seeing for an evening of undemanding entertainment, but not much more. I am not sure how this film will do at the box office - I was the only one watching it at my local cineplex the evening I was there - but I hope it makes some money for the people involved so they can continue to grow as storytellers and movie makers.