"Tupac’s Last Stand"
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What You Need To Know:
This is a movie of extremes. The acting, lighting and story are razor sharp, but the dialogue is cliché-filled and simplistic. A fascinating and compelling set up are wasted in the end, when Divinci becomes violent and unsympathetic, while Rodriguez merely becomes withdrawn, despite his repentance. All of these attributes are overshadowed by the excessive use of the f-word. Also, moral audiences will shy away from the excessive violence and the strip club scenes. While not mean-spirited, it is a harsh movie that will only appeal to audiences because it is the last movie featuring the slain Tupac
Content:
(Pa, B, LLL, VVV, SS, NN, A, D, MM) Pagan worldview of corrupt, murdering policemen where one has a moral conscience; 172 obscenities & 23 profanities; extreme violence including numerous bloody shooting murders, car crash, shoving & fighting, assault, & threats with guns; implied prostitution, implied adultery & sexual dancing; upper female nudity; alcohol use & drunkenness; smoking; and miscellaneous immorality including drug dealing, stealing, cheating, corruption, gambling, & public urination
More Detail:
GANG RELATED is slain rapper Tupac Shakur’s last movie The movie has nothing to do with gangs, but rather focuses on police corruption. It is only slightly redeemed from its corruption, violence and foul language by a repentant Tupac who realizes the errors of his ways in this uneven tale.
Tupac and James Belushi are police partners, named Rodriguez and Divinci, respectively. They have a very wicked and effective scam which ties in nicely with their narcotics work. Posing as drug dealers, they transact exchanges with real drug dealers. Rather than busting them at that point for possession and distribution, they follow them to a convenient location and gun them down. The two take the money, recycle the drugs and conveniently make the hit look like gang-related drive by shootings. Big problems occur when their most recent hit turns out to be an undercover DEA agent.
Now, Rodriguez and Divinci must find a scapegoat − a person on whom they can pin the rap. After some unsuccessful attempts, they pick a street bum, named Joe (Dennis Quaid), who turns out to be a neighbor and acquaintance of Divinci’s stripper girlfriend, Cynthia (Lela Rochon). The two policemen convince the drunk that he committed the crime, and Joe confesses to it. Yet, his crack lawyers (one of whom is played by James Earl Jones in a near-cameo appearance) discover some serious holes in the prosecution argument. The two perpetrators increasingly come under pressure, which eventually causes Rodriguez to repent and to attempt to frame Divinci, which results in deadly consequences.
This is a movie of extremes. The acting, lighting and story are razor sharp, but the dialogue is simple and full of clichés. The talented cast have had better material. The directing is merely straightforward, where a more stylized approach would have served the story better, as in the entertaining COPLAND.
A fascinating and compelling set up are, however, wasted near the end, when Divinci becomes violent and unsympathetic, while Rodriguez merely becomes withdrawn, despite his change-of-heart. All of these attributes are overshadowed by the excessive use of the f-word. It is used throughout this movie and is very disheartening. There is no rest for the audience from its sting. Furthermore, moral audiences will shy away from the excessive violence and strip club scenes.
This movie will prove popular for fans of Tupac and folks who are interested in gritty urban reality and police corruption. The movie doesn’t say that all police are corrupt, but it does have a cynical view of those in authority. A final note on Tupac’s short acting career: while he showed promise of rich, textured acting, he only performed in a few movies, and with this film as his last, he doesn’t go out with a virtuoso performance, as James Dean did in GIANT. The movie does, however, contain an almost prophetic remark from Tupac which may solidify it as a key piece of contemporary drama which give commentary on today’s violent society. Near the end of the movie, Tupac states, “I deserve to die.” The movie is dedicated to his memory.
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