Compared to other gangster and crack-epidemic films of the same era, this one just seems so fake and over-the-top. Wesley Snipes does a decent job, but the script and acting are quite weak. It's so cheesy too with the slow-motion "noooooo" moments and the whole Pookie getting back on crack part.
Compared to Boyz n the Hood or Goodfellas, this movie is just so weak. That is why it does not have a great rating...because it's not a great movie.
It's 25 years old but that doesn't change it to me, I still think it's great. I love it as much as Boyz n the Hood, Scarface, Menace II Society, King of New York and the Godfather. I watch all those a few times per year. The mood of NJC is what I like the best, New York settings are so different the LA ones, I tend to like them better.
shareDated. So it appears to be a 90s movie. I can't imagine why. This is criticism?
sharecant say i noticed
shareI loved this movie (upon release) and have it on every format imaginable. However, upon more recent viewings, the film does have a 'preachy' overtone (but at least it was a positive message...that drugs are bad) But if you look back at movies from this timeframe, they usually had a few preachy moments (likely at the insistence of the respective studios that made them.....as not to alienate or stereotype certain demographics)
Marked For Death had a (seemingly, tacked on) voice-over speech about how not all Jamaicans were bad people.....and I find (pretty much) all the Laurence Fishburne semonising in 'Boyz N The Hood to be even cringier than anything in New Jack City.
Nowadays, the same studios would just take the easy way out, and make all the bad guys white. Looking back at this movie, it's refreshing to see the cops potrayed as the good guys (most likely for the last time..... and ironically due to Ice-T's controversial 'Cop Killer' track)
Personally, I was just stoked to see (your favourite rappers, favourite rapper) ICE-T on the big screen back in 1991. This was when seeing a rapper in a movie was deemed as daring and original. His O.G. album was all I listened to in 91....and although still my all-time favourite....He never had a better year.