A beefy and blustery James Belushi is in his element in this gritty urban drama as rogue cop Davinci, who is financing his dream of living in Hawaii by selling drugs, killing the buyers and chalking the murders up as "gang related" drive-by shootings. Rodriguez, his partner (Tupac Shakur, the murdered rap star in his last film) is saddled with a large gambling debt and a conscience, especially when one of their victims turns out to be an undercover DEA agent. Desperate for a scapegoat, they find a derelict (Dennis Quaid, in desperate need of a new agent) on whom they can pin the murder. The gratuitously colorful dialogue, Tarantino-esque and movie tough, rings false, and the characters are essentially unsympathetic. It's a shame that, after Gridlock'd, Shakur couldn't have gone out on a higher note. Not recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—July 26, 2016—Olive, 111 min., R, DVD: $24.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1997's Gang Related features a decent transfer with a DTS 5.1 soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: an unexceptional urban drama makes an unremarkable debut on Blu-ray.]
Gang Related
(Orion, 109 min., R, avail. Jan. 27) Vol. 13, Issue 1
Gang Related
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