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Tupac related >>Tupac Shakur and Jim Belushi team up in Gang Related by MATTHEW HAYS
But here's the surprise: Gang Related is an engaging, well-written film by relative newcomer Jim Kouf (the last film he co-wrote was Operation Dumbo Drop for Touchstone; go figure). Gang Related has Jim Belushi and Tupac Shakur playing cop partners who have what appears to be be the perfect scam going. They set up drug deals, sell massive amounts of illicit substances and, after pocketing the cash from the deal, promptly knock off the scum who bought it. No one cares about the dealer and the deal has already been done. But the gig is up when one of the dealers they've ice turns out to be an undercover cop. Suddenly finding the culprits behind the crime becomes top priority for the entire force, and Belushi and Shakur set out to locate a convenient scapegoat. After exhausting the possibilities (all the various street cretins have solid alibis), our dynamic-if-terrifically dishonest duo find what seems to be the perfect fall guy. Dennis Quaid plays a homeless bum, a drunk who can barely muster up a sentence. Belushi and Shakur plant the story in his head, get his fingerprints on the weapon and claim they've found their man. As long as they can pass the crime off as 'gang related,' their cover is secure. To give any more away would ruin too much of the film. Kouf is adept at jumping between the humorous stupidity and general bad luck of the two corrupt cops and the gravity of the film's various scenarios. Belushi, Quaid and James Earl Jones all shine here in an excellent cast. Kouf's script is also courageous. Though corrupt cops are nothing new in a post-Serpico world, there has been a renewed tendency to saint them in movies and on cheesy TV shows. Shakur and (particularly) Belushi play unlikable sleazebags who perform all sorts of sordid deeds in pursuit of the loot. There's very little here to cling to in terms of identification with a hero, something audiences are all too accustomed to. But the overriding sadness that runs through Gang Related is Shakur's performance. He's extremely good here, one of the few musical talents I can think of who was managing to make a successful crossover to the big screen before being gunned down last year. The offscreen murder can only double Gang Related sense of loss and waste. Gang Related opens this Friday, Oct. 10. See film listings for showtimes.
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Everything about Gang Related smacks of a dreary retread. It's a cop buddy movie! They're interracial! It's got gang in the title! Life in the 'hood is rough! Cops are often bad!