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MOVIE INFO

Director:
The RZA
Cast:
Shameik Moore, Tip "TI" Harris, Demetrius Shipp Jr.
Writing Credits:
PG Cuschieri

Synopsis:
After Hurricane Katrina, four boyhood friends out of options reluctantly accept an offer to pull off a dangerous heist in the heart of New Orleans.

MPAA:
Rated R.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English Dolby 2.0
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 123 min.
Price: $29.98
Release Date: 10/20/2020

Bonus:
• “Behind the Scenes” Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailers & Previews
• DVD Copy


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

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RELATED REVIEWS


Cut Throat City [Blu-Ray] (2020)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 4, 2020)

Over the decades, many rap artists shifted from music to movies as actors. However, many fewer found themselves behind the camera.

Wu-Tang Clan’s the RZA made that leap back in 2012 via The Man With the Iron Fists, a martial arts flick in which he also played the lead. For 2020’s Cut Throat City, the RZA sticks in the director’s chair, as he brings a reality-based tale this time.

After Hurricane Katrina lays waste to New Orleans in 2005, four childhood friends find little opportunity in their Lower Ninth Ward locale. Though they discover their homes destroyed and no jobs on the horizon, FEMA offers no help.

With no positive prospects, the men turn toward crime, as local kingpin “Cousin” Bass (Tip “TI” Harris) will pay handsomely if they pull off a risky robbery. Inevitably, this gig goes awry, and the friends find themselves with a mix of threats to their survival.

Outside of the Katrina connection, that sounds like a skillion other gritty crime dramas. Does City manage to find anything new to say in the genre?

Nope – not in the least. Cliché-ridden to an extreme, City walks a well-worn path.

Honestly, the Katrina link tends to feel gratuitous and semi-insulting. It comes across like the filmmakers used that real-life tragedy as an attempt to add contrived social relevance, as the natural disaster actually bears little purpose otherwise.

In terms of narrative development, City turns into a mess. It skips through events without much clarity, and it often feels like entire chunks of story go absent.

That becomes a major problem, as the film tends to seem oddly incomplete. Not that I’d call City incoherent, but it often leaps from Point B to Point G without much about Points C, D, E and F along the way.

As alluded, the movie embraces clichés from start to finish. The film embraces the genre with every trite element one can imagine, and it never finds anything creative to do with the characters.

Essentially, City awards loose attributes to each of the friends but it never accomplishes more than that. We find no complexity to the roles, as they seem thin and superficial.

As the narrative progresses, I pursues one predictable choice after another. No tension or drama build, and we wind up with a tedious, stale tale.

It doesn’t help that City often grinds to a halt to lecture the audience about various social issues. Well-meaning as these choices may be, the movie can’t pull them off, as it feels clumsy and pedantic when it embraces these notes.

On the positive side, City comes with a pretty terrific cast. The movie opts for lesser-known actors as the four friends, with Shameik Moore as the most famous due to his lead voiceover role in 2018’s hit Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.

However, City populates the rest of the roles with a slew of names. We get performers such as Terrence Howard, Wesley Snipes, Ethan Hawke, Isaiah Washington and others.

Though their presence adds credibility to the project, none of the actors can redeem the movie. A wholly trite, lackluster attempt at a crime drama, City ends up as a forgettable dud.

Note that an added scene appears a small way into the end credits.


The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio B/ Bonus C-

Cut Throat City appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became an appealing representation of the movie.

Sharpness looked mostly strong. Softness did occasionally materialize during low-light shots, but the majority of the flick came across as well-defined.

No concerns with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge enhancement remained absent. Source flaws also failed to create any problems, as this was a clean presentation.

In terms of colors, City tended to go with a mix of teal and orange/amber. Within those choices, the colors appeared well-developed, so I encountered no problems with them.

Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows showed good delineation. Overall, this was a good transfer.

I felt the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of City worked fine for a character drama. The film came with a few violent scenes, and those fleshed out the spectrum fairly well.

In addition, the mix boasted decent environmental material. Little of this added a particularly immersive sense of place, but the track seemed satisfactory.

Audio quality was always good. Speech sounded crisp and distinctive, and music followed suit.

The score was consistently lively and full. Effects also demonstrated nice vivacity and accuracy, with positive bass response along the way. This turned into a reasonably satisfying sonic presentation.

A few extras appear, and Behind the Scenes fills eight minutes, 58 seconds with notes from producers Elliott Michael Smith and Michael Mendelsohn, and actors Kat Graham, Shameik Moore, Keean Johnson, Ethan Hawke, Eiza González, Denzel Whitaker, Tip “TI” Harris, and Joel David Moore.

“Behind” examines story and characters, cast and performances, and the work of director RZA. Next to no useful information materializes in this promotional reel.

Six Deleted Scenes fill a total of 10 minutes, 24 seconds. These add some character beats but they fail to bring anything memorable. Indeed, they’d have made a tedious movie even less appealing, so I’m glad they got the boot.

The disc opens with ads for Synchronic, Train to Busan Presents Peninsula and Valley of the Gods. We also find two trailers for City.

A second disc provides a DVD copy of City. It includes the same extras as the Blu-ray.

With plenty of talent in front of the camera, I hoped Cut Throat City might offer a solid stab at a crime drama. Unfortunately, the movie embraces every cliché in the book and turns into a sluggish, trite genre effort. The Blu-ray boasts positive picture and audio along with a minor collection of bonus features. City seems amateurish and flawed.

Viewer Film Ratings: 2 Stars Number of Votes: 1
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