Noirvember: Deep Cover (1992)

Starting with a couple of scenes in a row that should startle any viewer, Deep Cover is a crime thriller/neo-noir directed by Bill Duke (a badass actor arguably best-known for his roles in a couple of prime Schwarzenegger action movies) that provides two brilliant roles for the lead actors. And when those lead actors are Lawrence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum, both proving to be perfect fits in their roles, then it doesn’t take long to realise that you’re in for a fantastic time.

Fishburne plays Russell Stevens Jr, a cop who is deemed a perfect candidate for undercover work. If he hadn’t become a cop then he could have easily become a criminal. Quickly repaying the faith put in him, Russell soon works his way up the ranks of the drug-dealing organisation that he has been ordered to infiltrate. He ends up forming a strong bond with David Jason (Jeff Goldblum), a slick lawyer who has started to take on more and more work from his superior, Barbosa (Gregory Sierra). Unfortunately, Barbosa also seems to resent their success. 

Deep Cover isn’t interested in plausibility or reality. The central character is an undercover officer who commits various crimes, including murder, without regard for any attempts to remain within some recognisable moral framework that would show him to still ultimately be on the side of good. And yet, despite the slick movie moments and the brilliant thrills, there’s a strong core message about the ramifications of the drug trade, and how people are left with n a bad position by officials who can change their priorities, and allegiances, at the drop of a hat. As the misdeeds pile up, to put it mildly, it clarifies how far a good man is willing to go in order to effect some real change.

Duke directs well, helped by the fact that both leads are effortlessly cool and photogenic, and Michael Tolkin and Henry Bean give him a great script to work with. This may well be the best movie written by either man, despite a great variety of projects in their respective filmographies.

Fishburne and Goldblum are both on top form, and the film is energised by a middle section that allows some time for viewers to see a strong friendship between them. Sierra is easy to hate, a menacing figure overshadowing both the lead characters, but also an obstacle in the way of Fishburne’s character moving one more place up the ladder, and his network of cronies allows for some great little turns from Roger Guenveur Smith and Sydney Lassick. Clarence Williams III is excellent, playing a detective who keeps trying to help someone he just thinks is a regular drug-dealer who might still be able to get his life in order, and there are a couple of great moments feature James T. Morris and Alisa Christensen, a duo working in tandem to claim ownership of drug-dealing territory. Victoria Dillard is Betty, a young woman who is able to launder money, and she does good work, despite feeling as if her character is just there for Russell to take a shine to. And I cannot believe that I almost forgot to mention Charles Martin Smith, the man who almost steals the entire movie, brilliant as the cop in charge of the undercover operation, and the man responsible for giving the job to our “hero”.

Deep Cover has everything you could want from an early ‘90s crime thriller. The cast is a great mix of ascending talent and established faces, the pacing and dialogue are pretty perfect, the soundtrack is banging (as I believe the kids might say . . . joking here, but the soundtrack is genuinely excellent, complemented well by Michel Colombier’s score), and it never loses sight of what it’s really about, even if viewers temporarily forget it while being thrilled and entertained. The good is always there. It’s just obscured under deep cover.

10/10

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Purple Rain (1984)

Prince, strangely enough, is one of the few well-known musical artists I've seen live. He played at Meadowbank stadium almost 20 years ago and I was hanging about outside with some friends. Some people had to leave the show and handed their tickets over to security guards who then handed them over to the pretty French ladies that my friend and I happened to be standing beside. The pretty French ladies didn't want to go in so, much to the dismay of the security guards, they kindly gave the tickets to my friend and me who then wandered in to battle through the crowd and see the Purple One do his thing. He was okay. The guy can play a mean guitar and has some absolutely brilliant songs in his repertoire, but he's not a great performer to enjoy live, especially when trying to get the audience to call out his name, despite having changed it at that point to the famous symbol (ironically, this was not too long after his hit single "My Name Is Prince"). Buy some Prince CDs and stick them on when you want to chill out or, even better, when you're having a special, indulgent evening in with a partner. He's like an inverted version of Barry White - tiny, thin and with a voice that can squeal all the way to the high notes.

Anyway, I digress slightly. That first paragraph may seem unimportant, but it does set things up for this review, which is, after all, about a film that was nothing more than a star vehicle for Prince. I think it's important to put forward my view on the entertainer, I think he's done some cool stuff, but he's never really struck me as a cool dude. He's more like a cross between David Blaine and a runaway Ribena berry, but maybe that's just me. Hopefully, you at least now know how apprehensive I was when I popped the Blu-ray of Purple Rain into my player.

Thankfully, the movie was surprisingly enjoyable. I'm being serious. A lot of the content is easy to point and laugh at, but there are a few surprises here and there (mainly concerning what a shit Prince, playing The Kid, is) and the soundtrack is as good as you'd expect.

Directed by Albert Magnoli (who also wrote the screenplay, with some material contributed by William Blinn), the story is a standard tale of a troubled rocker (guess who?) journeying towards his big moment of success. The lovely Apollonia Kotero plays Apollonia, a young woman who arrives in town and also wants to make her way up the showbiz ladder, and Morris Day plays . . . . . . . . . Morris, lead singer of The Time and the man who wants to get rid of The Kid. Meanwhile, The Kid also has problems at home as fights continue between his abusive father (Clarence Williams III) and his poor mother (Olga Karlatos), because all 26-year old wannabe rock stars still live with their parents.

In between scenes of enjoyably surprising raunchiness and moments of unexpected violence towards women (okay, it's not shocking when compared to other movies that I've seen, but it's pretty shocking when it's in a film starring bloody Prince) there are plenty of things to point and laugh at. The flirting between Prince and Apollonia is hilarious, especially in the scene which has Prince taking away Apollonia's ankle jewellery and generally being a bit of a dick about it. Any scene that features Morris Day talking to someone, anyone, else is teetering on the edge of comedy greatness - I genuinely now wish that Morris Day was in every other movie ever made. Prince getting emotional as his parents fight and his father gets abusive, Prince being cool and enigmatic, Prince treating his band members like shit. In fact, almost every scene with Prince that doesn't have him playing music is entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

However, the acting and storyline are secondary elements here. As with any movie of this type, it's the music that makes or breaks the film and this soundtrack is a beauty. You have the title track, of course, but you also get "Let's Go Crazy", "When Doves Cry", "Father's Song" and "I Would Die 4 U" to name a few (of the best). On top of those great Prince tracks just try to keep your feet from moving around while you enjoy two numbers performed by The Time ("Jungle Love" and "The Bird"). I'd only ever heard of Morris Day and The Time when they were mentioned, and appeared, in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, but now I'm a big fan and I'll be checking out more of their music.

If you don't like Prince at all then don't check out Purple Rain. It's a star vehicle and it plays out exactly as any star vehicle should. The rest of the cast are a mixed bunch, and the leading man can't really act all that well (though he's not atrocious), but this is about throwing a bunch of great songs together and creating moments that allow them to be given centre stage. Give it a chance one day if you're feeling particularly funky.

5/10

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Reindeer Games AKA Deception (2000)

Ben Affleck stars in this twisty turny action thriller directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Ehren Kruger and it's not as bad as you may have heard. It's not as good, or clever, as it thinks it is but it's a mildly entertaining way to spend two hours and benefits from the presence of the gorgeous Charlize Theron being absolutely gorgeous.

The plot is as follows: Ben Affleck plays Rudy Duncan, a man imprisoned for stealing cars who is about to get his freedom. His cellmate (Nick Cassidy, played by James Frain) is also near the end of his term, five years. Nick has been developed a relationship with a woman who has been writing to him in prison and is looking forward to getting out and meeting her. But as the day of freedom approaches, tragedy strikes. When Rudy leaves the prison he sees the lady of letters (Ashley, played by Charlize Theron) waiting. After a few moments of wrestling with his conscience, Rudy jumps off the bus and runs over to her. He then introduces himself as Nick. What follows seems too good to be true. Rudy is happy, he's in the arms of a beautiful woman who wants to look after him and the only problem is the fact that he lied about his identity. That problem soon becomes pretty major when the happiness is spoiled when Ashley's brother (Gary Sinise) and his gang crash the party. They are planning to rob a casino and they know that they now have the man who can help them. At least, that's what they think. If Rudy comes clean then he's worthless to them and will end up dead but if he tries to keep up the pretence his options aren't looking as good that way either.

Starting with a bunch of dead Santas and then moving back in time, this is a movie that you know isn't necessarily going to end well for most of the people involved. Seeing that Gary Sinise has a gang that includes Danny Trejo, Clarence Williams III and Donal Logue reaffirms that notion. Yet, strangely, it never feels that tense and that's possibly due to the main role going to Ben Affleck.

Here's the thing, I am no Affleck hater (I'm about the one guy who enjoyed Daredevil, as flawed as it was, and I am happy to see him doing so well in his directorial career) but he just doesn't make this role work. He never seems worried, he's not all that convincing and he walks through the movie with that Teflon coating of a star that won't be unexpectedly killed off. I'm not going to spoil the film by telling you if that remains true by the very end of the movie but it certainly kills off the tension for the first 3/4 anyway. Thankfully, the rest of the cast includes those already mentioned (and did I remind you of how gorgeous Charlize Theron is?) and a delightful supporting role for the great Dennis Farina.

The direction by Frankenheimer is solid although with the film running at just over two hours you can't help thinking that a little pruning here and there might have helped. A better script from Kruger would have also helped. It's not THAT bad but it just doesn't hit the sweet spot required. The surprises aren't as surprising as they should be and the lines that are supposed to be cool sound like they were written by someone pretending to be Shane Black as opposed to, y'know, Shane Black. It's a shame that Kruger appears to have peaked so early in his career and has never come close to writing something approaching his work on the superb Arlington Road.

Thankfully, the performances carry this movie along for the duration. Affleck may not be great here but he's okay, which doesn't matter when time is given over to the great supporting actors anyway. Charlize Theron once said that this was her least favourite of all her movies but I think she was too harsh. It's not essential viewing but it has some nice touches, a bunch of great actors and a chance to bask in the glow of the gorgeousness of Charlize Theron (which you might recall me mentioning just two paragraphs above).

6/10

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