The Wrecking Crew (2000)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

This is part of a trilogy (of sorts) the other 2 films are THE CORRUPT and URBAN MENACE.Originally meant as one movie with different story lines coming together the movie-company decided that they'd rather turn them into 3 movies and make 3 times the profit from the DVD/VHS-sales but with the same budget.All 3 movies were shot simultaniously in the course of 18 days (6 days per movie) with the same settings (with the exceptions of a couple scenes here and there) with the same crew, cast (except the rappers) etc even the same Ice-T soundtrack (his album 7th Deadly Sin) continuniously playing throughout.And they often had to have the few Americans playing multiple characters within the same movie, because the extras that were hired couldn't speak a word of English (the movie is film in Brataslava).One thing that happened is that AIR France lost a box of footage that they filmed which included footage from all 3 movies, because they would film scenes from different movies back to back to save time etc.So that obviously messed up the movies a little bit, luckily they had b- footage for most lost scenes they could use instead but I wonder what actually happened to that footage and if the movies would have turned out better with it (I imagine so).Another thing you will notice when you watch this is the lack of Snoop Dogg.On the director's commentary Albert Pyun openly admits that the only reason they decided to put Snoop into the movie was so that they could put him on the cover and have his fans pay for a Snoop Dogg-movie even tho he never had any part in the making of this movie.Confused?Well Snoop Dogg was in URBAN MENACE of the trilogy, so they take a scene from that movie + interview footage with Snoop and via text they convey the idea that Snoop plays a gangster called Dra-Man and they edit it together to make it look like he was killed in the beginning of the movie.So Snoop doesn't actually act in this movie, he didn't even know he was gonna be in it til I guess the movie company told him they wanted to attach his name to the movie and gave him a nickle for it.Now to the actual movie:I can't say it's a good movie, I actually somewhat enjoy URBAN MENACE and THE CORRUPT even tho they are very uneven.This one is far more even, but also more monotonous but it flows a lot better than the other 2, so I can understand why this one has the highest rating of the 2 if not just for that.The story is nothing to write home about, it's 3 gangs in a abandoned factory killing off each other, sort of a poor man's MEAN GUNS also a Ice-T and Albert Pyun vehicle.But there's still something about it I can enjoy a little, maybe it's the knowing the background and having heard the commentary tracks for all 3 movies that can make me appreciate them a little more. Cause honestly I didn't like Wrecking Crew the first time I saw it much but now okay I can't say I like it per se but I can somewhat appreciate it for what it is.

Just wanted to point that out. Albert Pyun is no Orson Welles, but by the time he made 'The Wrecking Crew' he had already made 28 full length films. 28 ... this was not the work of a High School student who had some friends that got together and made a movie about some crazy stuff about guns and drugs and hip-hop. This would be impressive actually if it had been made by a High School student, both in the fact that Ice-T and Snoop Dogg were available and that a 16 year old was able to get the budget together to finish the project.Albert Pyun was 47 when this came out, however, and had been working in Hollywood for 28 years. This is inexcusable.Why is it bad? Art is subjective, right? One person's trash is another's treasure, right? I completely agree with that sentiment, but I don't know my belief in art has ever been stretched to this point.Rating: 2/40

This movie ranks above any other movie ever made in history. It is a shame that it did not win an Oscar for best film. What was the academy thinking. I mean, with the monotone dialogue delivered by the actors actually made you feel like you were in the same intense situations with lots of guns and death, and saying great lines like "word" or fo sho." Not only was the acting great, but the cameras they used were hand held camcorders to add quality and make the movie more realistic. The set direction was beautiful too, with the random lighting every time the camera changed angles, it actually made you feel like you were in an empty warehouse with disco lights. And the movie score was excellent too. It contained great rap music that droned out and was exactly the same throughout the movie, which, again also led to realism because you know how there is always repetitive rap music playing whenever you pull out a gun. And, to top it off, the thing that makes the movie stand out above all others, is the 25 minute long opening credits that showed random clips that had nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Its like the directors were thinking, we need to have a random opening credit scene that would make the movie good because it would have nothing to do with the rest of the movie.A true work of art.

I recently received The Wrecking Crew as a birthday present and truthfully it has to be the worst present I have received and the worst DVD in my collection. Under no circumstances watch/buy this film. I am a huge fan of Snoop but was utterly disappointed by the pathetic performance. For anyone who expects to see a lot of Snoop don't get your hopes up because you see him for the first five minutes of the film and it seems like he is not even in the film. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM!!!!!!!