Today’s quick review: New Jack City. As a cocaine epidemic sweeps New York, Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) takes his drug empire to new heights, setting up shop in a fortified apartment complex and letting his brother Gee Money (Allen Payne) run the operation. But Nino faces his first real threat when Scotty Appleton (Ice-T) and Nick Peretti (Judd Nelson), a pair of unruly cops, recruit a drug addict (Chris Rock) to infiltrate his operation.
New Jack City is a crime drama about a cocaine kingpin and the undercover narcotics officers determined to take him down. Wesley Snipes stars as Nino Brown, a criminal whose brains and ruthlessness have taken him to the top of New York’s underworld. New Jack City follows Nino as he makes a series of dangerous gambits to expand his empire, as well as the police as they take chances of their own.
New Jack City’s greatest asset is Nino himself. Wesley Snipes is a perfect fit for the part, bringing just the right mixture of cunning, violence, and hubris. No matter how often the movie tries to put Scotty in the driver’s seat, New Jack City is Nino’s story. He has the same dark appeal as other criminal protagonists, and the numerous failed attempts to bring him down only make the character work better.
Unfortunately, the police do not fare as well. Scotty and Nick are thin characters, ineffectual cops who spend their time arguing and lecturing each other about drugs. They show glimmers of humanity here and there, such as Scotty’s earnest attempt to rehabilitate his informant. But as a rule, they are placeholders who are there to drive the plot, rather than well-developed foils to Nino’s egomania.
Even though it fumbles with its heroes, New Jack City does well overall. Its explicit content, drug use, and violence place it on the mature end of the genre, but anyone looking for a gritty rise-to-power crime drama would do well to give it a shot. Just do not expect the depth or nuance of the best films in the genre.
For another crime drama about a criminal empire, try American Gangster, Scarface, or King of New York. For an even more violent action movie about a police raid on a drug kingpin’s stronghold, try The Raid or Dredd. For a more intricate crime drama about an undercover cop, try The Departed. For another look at the drug trade, try Blow or Traffic.
[6.6 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102526/). I give it a 6.5 for a compelling villain.