Deep Cover (1992)

Wow! Such a good movie.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Deep Cover is one of those better drug movies, an ode masterpiece to the legendary actor Bill Duke, who directs this impressive pic (surprise, where this hardly ever out of work character actor, has been gracing our screens for years. The solid actioner moves along nicely too, which has much more more to say, and gives us better insight into the drug problem. Running shy of a month at the cinema, where I took my dad to see it, the movie fared better with me, than I thought it would. We've got a real story going on, and characters. It's plotted beautifully like a piano tune. It's nice opening flashback establishes the main character's reasons for later becoming a cop, and hating drugs and liquor. When John Hull (a much slender Larry Fishburne) is approached by an DEA agent (a great Charles Martin Smith- fancy him popping up) he at first, is of course, adverse at the idea, of going undercover, when he realizes he's passed the audition (the earlier black interviewee cops had mixed reactions, you could say). He is talked around, coaxed into thinking he can do much better as an undercover cop, than walking the beat. Here, he meets an assortment of characters, mostly unsavory, one slick scum selling drug dealer, Luther, never a worse victim, at the hands of a whacking pool Cue, which as Fishburne describes says in his somber and flat voice, "The guy has a life expectancy of half an hour". This is a guy who really goes undercover, playing the part, living in squalor, and quickly rising to luxury, while working his way up the ladder, to nail the main players, one a real nasty, in a priest outfit, who rips Fishburne's earing, out of his ear. These are the pr..ks, behind this ever growing drug enterprise that kill so many of the young, hooked to crack, heroin. We learn a bit too, not just from the supposed good guys, but the leeches in fancy suits selling it. Goldblum as a slick bent lawyer, stood out, where Fishburne and him form a partnership. The movie has a lot of interesting attachments, like a young teen crack whore and kid, Fishburne befriends, as well as a hectoring undercover cop (Clarence Williams 3r'd who fatally buys it). Fishburne of course, can't reveal himself. We have a nice thrilling chase, and I guess a twist of character in Smith's intentions, where too we have a deadly hand smacking competition, and toilet trained pimp, who uses Fishburne's shoes as a head, before Fishburne, unlawfully blows him away. Yeah, he goes all the way, here. All in all Deep Cover has a lot to offer, as well as a great opening soundtrack. It has some actors who only pop up in a few other movies here and there. Fishburne holds back, playing it casual here, and he comes off better for it. I must say, it's a very real and likable performance, though it was Goldblum who stole the pic. Too it's much apparent, Hull has been hiding from himself, while in uniform

As grungy and hard-edged as this movie is, I still found a number of good things going for it that made the movie entertaining to watch. The story moves very fast, which tells you something.As someone who loves narration, I enjoyed Laurence Fishburne's deep-voiced first-person narrating. He was smooth in this gritty 1990s film noir filled with hard-boiled characters, rough language and some brutal scenes wrapped around a drug story. The early '90s produced some fine neo-noirs.However, as rough as that sounds, they don't overdo the violence. However, the dialog can make you wince at times. It also has the normal Liberal cheap shots against Republicans: this time George Bush Sr. (The major villain, a South American drug lord is pictured as a friend of Bush's. Puh-leeze. And, you also get the usual baloney of the U.S. Government and the DEA being bad guys. If that isn't enough, they also play the "race card" in here. Yet, I still liked this film. At least they also took a shot at phony Liberals, who Jeff Goldblum's character portrays. Goldblum's "David Jason" actually had the best lines in the film, however. He is shown as morally-bankrupt atheist.This movie is unusual in that the main character - Fishburne's "Russell Stevens" - goes from good guy to bad guy back to good guy! This is an intriguing, dark film.

As far as I (the "me") am concerned, this is a really top 10 of the decade movie. Fishbourne gives an amazing, stellar performance that served to cement his reputation as a talented, malleable (to be lauded in an actor...) professional. To truly understand the content of this movie, you literally have to be thinking "Shakespearian" to put it in context. That he played Othello after is a rather pleasingly obvious choice. Put together hungry, ambitious actors and actresses, excellent writing that con-temporizes perennial concerns; combine with innovative, just beyond the current accepted edge cinematography; and you get Deep Cover. A deep symmetry and (of) actor sympathy (not necessarily in that order) reveals truths all but concealed by contemporary brusqueness. See the gd thing to appreciate it, and do it late at night. It is truly the sleeper of the last 2 decades; see it and be in on it.

This movie exceeded my expectations.I thought it was going to be a big action movie, but it was quite different. It is a very dark thriller.While it still had some action this wasn't the main focus. It is very story orientated. Plenty of good twists in the plot line.The acting was good. Except for at the beginning when there is a kid acting but he was still OK. Laurence Fishburne did well as past reviews have mentioned. Another good actor in this one was Jeff Goldblum, the Lawyer. The rest of the cast were good as well.Overall I thought it was an interesting and dark thriller which should prove entertaining even with some brutal violence.