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Gang Related (1997)

Director: Jim Kouf

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3 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Street cops Divinci (Belushi) and Rodriguez (Shakur) have a scam going, fake drug deals in which they sell the dope, dispose of the customer in a drive-by execution, retrieve the drugs and record the shooting as gang related. A nice little earner, this also helps clean the streets of dealers, or so justifies Divinci, whose ethics on the job have stretched as wide as his waistline. The plot unravels when one victim proves to have been an undercover DEA agent, his boss now baying for answers. Short of the usual scapegoats, Divinci lines up an alcoholic tramp (Quaid) to take the fall, ropes in his girlfriend (Rochon) to stand witness, and borrows the odd item of evidence from a concurrent murder trial. Despite a vaguely interesting premise - something like a chaos theory of police karma, the two partners precipitating their own downfall via a series of triggered repercussions - this never rises above the functional.

Author: NB

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

k.t. said...

Posted on Feb 08 2009 05:04 i think gang realated was amazing. plus i think tupac is the best rapper in the word since he is dead rap has faded

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Ven007 said...

Posted on Nov 10 2008 13:22 Yet another critic overlooks the merits of this flawed masterpiece. The film is that very rare thing - an intelligent movie that deals with lethal violence, and the often unexpected repercussions upon those who employ it. Belushi is terrific as the thoroughly monstrous half of this unpleasant pair. His amorality is of a magnitude that can countenance the release of an evil, psychopathic killer (no, not himself), because it won't affect him. Or so he thinks. Shakur steals the film however, because he is given a far more complex, nuanced role to play. His character is by no means a hero, but he at least retains sufficient humanity to be haunted by the carnage reaked by Belushi and himself. His character is conflicted almost throughout the film, and Shakur never fails to bring that across to the viewer (perhaps because he was himself such a troubled individual?). Ultimately, it is a weakness for gambling that chains him to Belushi's amoral ogre. In depicting their inevitable ends, the film is almost Shakespearean. Each dies as a direct result of his own specific failing as a human. So, for Shakur, it is gambling; whereas Belushi literally comes face to face with the results of his own amorality, in a viciously brilliant ending. Only the mawkish sentimentality of Quaid's personal story jars with the film - the court-cell scene should have hit the cutting room floor, and a more suitable way found to tell his tale in detail (if indeed it ever needed to be).

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James Lockwood said...

Posted on Mar 12 2008 10:19 Yes, i think it was good but if you can put more film review on the page about this film.

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