Deep cover
But as much as it takes authoritarian corruption for granted, Deep Cover's attitude toward interracial sexual relations is at once fresh and unpretentious: As Jeff Goldblum's sleazy lawyer emerges from a black mistress's apartment quipping to Fishburne about the allure of exotic flesh, the film both confirms and renders ridiculous the sexual legend that, furtively, white men desire black women (and vice-versa). Deeply cynical about the government's purported "War on Drugs"-at one point even implicating the president by name-the film sees it as just another white power structure profiting from, and fueling, a largely minority industry honest cops and citizens pay the price for this malfeasance, an imbalance Fishburne eventually exploits with aplomb. Once under, the plot provocatively centers on the agonizing moral compromises Fishburne must make and his realization that right and wrong is relative to the power of the almighty dollar. He's rigid, uncompromising, resentful of authority-he's the perfect mole, as his boss says (a squirrelly, race-baiting Charles Martin Smith), "because he fits the profile of a criminal." When he was a boy, Fishburne witnessed his father gunned down in a bungled liquor store bust as an adult, he abstains from alcohol and drugs, and wears an impassive mien to keep the world at a safe distance. agent who goes undercover to take down a Colombian drug syndicate. Reviewed by ALauff 8 / 10 A smart, dark, socially conscious thrillerĪrtfully presented and blunt in its social critique, there is something deliciously honest about the undercover cop film, this being an ideal example of no-bullshit brio, starring "Larry" Fishburne as a dour L.A. Great performances from the leading players seal the deal here (Goldblum is not miscast he's the perfect opposite foil for Fishburne's broody fire), and while some clichés are within the play, the production as mounted, with the narrative devices of identification destruction (hello 2 masks) and that violence begets violence, marks this out as one the neo-noir crowd should note down as a must see. The screenplay is always smart and cutting, mixing political hog-wash and social commentary with the harsh realities of lives dominated by drugs - the users - the sellers - the cartel, and the cop going deeper underground. As this grim tale unfolds, his distressingly down-beat tone goes hand in hand with the narrative's sharp edges. While the musical accompaniments flit in between hip-hop thunder and jazzy blues lightning.įishburne provides a narration that works exceptionally well, harking back to classic noirs of yesteryear. Bazelli photographs with a deliberate urban feel, making red prominent and black a lurking menace. Duke (A Rage in Harlem) knows some tricks to imbue psychological distortion, canted angles, step-print framing, slow angled lensing, jump cuts and sweaty close ups. The look and tone of the picture is as intense as the characterisations on show. A place of dimly lighted bars and pool halls, of dank streets and scrap yards, and of course of violence and misery. This is a shifty and grungy Los Angeles, awash with blood money, single parents prepared to sell their kids, where kids in their early teens mule for the dealers and get killed in the process. But the closer he gets in with the targets, the deeper he gets involved - emotionally and psychologically.Ī splendid slice of gritty neo-noir, Deep Cover follows a classic film noir theme of a man descending into a world he really shouldn't be part of.
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Passing an interview with DEA Agent Gerald Carver (Smith), Stevens goes undercover to bust a major drug gang that has links to high places. Traumatised as a youngster by the death of his junkie father, Russell Stevens (Fishburne) becomes a police officer.
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Music is by Michel Colombier and cinematography by Bojan Bazelli. It stars Larry Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Charles Martin Smith, Victoria Dillard and Gregory Sierra.
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Reviewed by hitchcockthelegend 8 / 10 Two Masks.ĭeep Cover is directed by Bill Duke and written by Michael Tolkin and Henry Bean.