New Jack City [Blu-ray]

A Great Two-Disc Special Edition
The two-disc special edition of New Jack City is a great investment for fans of the classic hip-hop drama. Released in 1991, New Jack City was the first feature film Mario Van Peebles released. The film also was a breeding ground for actors who went on to have very successful careers. The music of the "New Jack" movie is almost as memorable as the movie itself. Ice T stars in the film as a "New Jack" cop who goes undercover to break down the "CMB" crime mob. Crack was running rampant. Wesley Snipes starred as Nino Brown and Allen Payne starred as his right hand man "G-Money." It's a great film and Chris Rock appears in the film as a crack head named Pookie. "New Jack City" is the first hip-hop gangsta movie classic. It wasn't just a shoot em' up bang bang movie, it really captures the essence of those mafia/organized crime movies. The DVD's packaging is very nice.

The Road To New Jack City-
This is hands down the best featurette on the special features...

Influential and surprisingly still holds up today
Mario Van Peebles directed and co-stars in this influential and well filmed urban crime saga that surprisingly still holds up today. New Jack City, like King of New York, Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, has spawned a host of immitators to this day, but it's Peebles heartfelt message that sets New Jack City apart from others. Peebles stars as one of the honest cops (along with pimp turned rapper turned actor Ice-T and Judd Nelson) trying to nail ruthless drug czar Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and bring down his empire of drugs and murder, to little avail. A young Chris Rock stars as a recovering addict who Ice-T and co. look upon to help them nab Nino, but it soon proves to be something that is much easier said than done. Unlike the "gangsta" films that followed, New Jack City offered a glimmer of hope under the violence and pounding hip-hop soundtrack, and it helped launch the career of the charismatic Snipes who would become an action star as the decade progressed. The rest...

New Jack Drug-goons
I grew up on a staple of spaghetti westerns (Terence Hill), kung-fu (Bruce Lee & Jacky Chan) and action (Bruce Willis) flicks but as a young black man growing up in Kambuzuma, Harare, Zimbabwe I did not identify myself with any ONE genre. Kine 1000 was a typical urban cinema goer's paradise.
Enter Wesley Snipes in 1991's New Jack City and my whole world changed. Here was a despicable villain, vicious, arrogant and totally self-serving an individual as you ever will see, yet he was charming ang very likeable at the same time. I identified with him, I hated his politics (so to speak) but in the same breath I knew a 1000 like him who corrupted nations and enriched themselves while so doing. The movie was set in America but it could have been enacted in any urban city in the world.
Happening, relevant and totally and brutally believable! Snipes is excellent, Allen Payne, Ice T, Judd Nelson & Chris Rock not far behind this movie set the the tone for all drug related movies to...

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