Cooper’s script detests the city-conquering gangster Nino Brown (Snipes), but Mario Van Peebles’ camera is in love with him. The result is an indelible villain, memorialized by wild Dutch angles and prodigious overhead cinematography.

| Feb 5, 2025

'New Jack City' is steeped in Blaxploitation filmmaking, and is a good deal more stylish and more fun than, say, 'Boyz N the Hood,' released the same year.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 20, 2024

I mean, what else can one say about a film in which even Judd Nelson is an enjoyable presence?

| Aug 20, 2023

New Jack City layers seasoning through charming characters, slick dialogue and memorable visuals that propels the film into legendary status.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 11, 2023

A visceral exposition of the narcotics underbelly, fusing stark realism with narrative finesse. The protagonist portrayal impresses with an unorthodox blend of charm and menace.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 11, 2023

It's a mess, but there's so much raw talent on display in this movie that I urge you to see it.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 9, 2023

...has all the energy you could want from a B-picture with A-picture aspirations...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 10, 2021

Whilst not as analytical about the debate on drugs like Soderbergh's Traffic, there is much to think about and take from a still-enjoyable movie.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 10, 2017

| Original Score: C- | Sep 7, 2011

OK Van Peebles flick featuring Snipes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 23, 2008

We all know New Jack City is making the right statement on drugs, racism, the system, etc. But the fact is it's not very good.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 30, 2007

Though this often plays like a 70s cop show, it became a prototype for the bling-heavy gangsta melodramas of the 90s.

| Oct 30, 2007

Filmmakers pull off a provocative, pulsating update on gangster pics with this action-laden epic about the rise and fall of an inner city crack dealer.

| Oct 30, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2006

A cynical director, Van Peebles has style to burn, but his work is too flashy to make sense. This is a gangster-thriller about crack trade in Harlem done as a moralistic melodrama with kinky violence.

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 16, 2006

It's a superior example of what used to be called blaxploitation, with Van Peebles piling on corruption and carnage for all he's worth.

| Jan 26, 2006

Violent and very engaging.

| Jan 18, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 28, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 21, 2005

...a purely conventional story, but it unfolds in unique and innovative ways, with particularly good turns from its cast, all of which make it a worthwhile watch.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 17, 2005