Cynical police thriller that veers between a standard issue genre action pic and something more meaningful and original.
Deep Cover (1992)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:20
Fresh:17
Rotten:3
Average Rating:6.8/10
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: Made during the black film boom that followed the success of BOYZ N THE HOOD, DEEP COVER is that rare and beautiful thing--a genuinely smart action movie. Screenwriters Michael Tolkin (THE PLAYER)... Made during the black film boom that followed the success of BOYZ N THE HOOD, DEEP COVER is that rare and beautiful thing--a genuinely smart action movie. Screenwriters Michael Tolkin (THE PLAYER) and Henry Bean have written a clever but gritty, hard-hitting script, and director Bill Duke (A RAGE IN HARLEM) brings just the right tone to the material. It has an appropriately gloomy palette of glaring reds and dark blues and a dissonant, hip-hop-influenced score that enhances the sardonic mood. Laurence Fishburne narrates and stars in the challenging role of Russell Stevens Jr., an undercover cop who finds himself slipping onto the wrong side of the law. The federal agent who runs the undercover operation (Charles Martin Smith) tells Stevens to enjoy his drug-dealer lifestyle. And when the motives of the government Stevens works for come into question, the line between cop and criminal gets even more blurred. Stevens, the somber cop, has the perfect counterpoint in David Jason (Jeff Goldblum), the hilariously manic crooked lawyer. While Stevens is tormented and questions the morality of his every action, the formerly sheltered Jason is at first terrified, then enthralled by becoming a drug kingpin and a killer. [More]
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Victoria Dillard, Charles Martin Smith
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Victoria Dillard, Charles Martin Smith, Roger Guenveur Smith, Gregory Sierra, Clarence Williams, Sydney Lassick, Glynn Turman, Kamala Lopez
Director: Bill Duke
Director: Bill Duke
Screenwriter: Michael Tolkin, Henry Bean
Producer: Pierre David, Henry Bean
Composer: Michel Colombier
Reviews for Deep Cover
Smart and stylish, it also has scenes of crackling violence and dramaturgy that oftentimes strains to work but, on the whole, Deep Cover is engaging, thoughtful and inventive.
It's an unsettling yet compelling blend, and probably one you don't want to think about too much.
Convoluted and mostly unconvincing as a portrait of the drug underworld, Deep Cover [based on a story by Michael Tolkin] still carries some resonance due to its vivid portrait of societal decay and a heavyweight performance by Larry Fishburne.
What emerges is a powerhouse thriller full of surprises, original touches, and rare political lucidity, including an impressive performance by Jeff Goldblum.
In addition to Fishburne, it gives us a first-rate soundtrack, a clutch of splendid cameos, fine, grainy direction from Duke, and much pointed stuff about the hypocrisy behind the USA's so-called war against drugs.
Laurence Fishburne haunts this movie with his deep set fiercely intense glaring eyes.
Deep Cover eventually degenerates into so much gratuitous violence that 'kill' sounds like the most-used verb in the screenplay's last stages.
Deep Cover was probably conceived as a quickie crime film, but thanks to Fishburne's and Goldblum's performances, it became much more.
A truly entertaining little crime thriller. Fishburne and Goldblum are great together.
Rather than ride the easy cynicism of the script, by Michael Tolkin and Henry Bean, Fishburne illuminates his character's moral struggle.
third-rate blaxploitation picture for the '90s, it aims to be street-tough and an admonishment against drugs. It manages to be neither.
Larry Fishburne is clearly a star of the future, but Deep Cover won't be the vehicle.
What sets Deep Cover apart is its sense of good and evil, the way it has the Fishburne character agonize over the moral decisions he has to make.
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