New Jack City has enjoyed a long and loyal fan following since it hits the streets back in 1991. It may be a fairly black & white look at the front-line war on drugs, but it works a lot better as a straight “crime flick” than it does as a deep-thinking cautionary tale.
Wesley Snipes stars as the unflinchingly mercenary drug kingpin known as Nino Brown. The year is 1986, and the crack epidemic is just about to hit New York City in a big, ugly way - which means that Nino and his crew are about to hit the big time. The CMB (Cash Money Brothers) overtake a massive apartment complex called The Carter, and it’s there that Nino’s minions will stake their claim; manufacturing facilities, distribution routes, and a captive collection of customers are what The Carter can offer, and Nino storms the place like it was a medieval castle.
Meanwhile, on the law enforcement side of the equation, Scotty Appleton (Ice-T) and Nick Peretti (Judd Nelson) are enlisted to take the CMB boys down, and down hard. All the cops have in their arsenal is a disapproving Lt. Stone (Mario Van Peebles) and a rehabilitated crackhead (Chris Rock). But Peretti & Appleton also have one extra weapon: Their venomous disdain for Nino combined with a casual disrespect for acceptable police procedure.
And of course there are the sidekicks, the henchmen, the abused women-folks, the corrupted, the addicted, and the outraged. It’s a fairly simple story, all things considered, and it’s one we’ve heard more than a few times before. But there’s a vibrant colour and slick fluidity to New Jack City, which makes it easy to overlook the more obvious spots and focus on the assets.
New Jack City doesn’t offer a whole lot that’s new to the “city drug war” genre, but it was one of the first flicks to dress the tale up for a new generation. It’s a slickly entertaining and consistently engaging crime thriller, and it’s a film that stands up for repeat viewings. Ice-T is on fine form in his big screen debut.
