| Original Score: C- | Sep 7, 2011

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

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

The movie was advertised (no doubt wisely) as a slam-bang action adventure, but in fact it's a serious, smart film with an impact that lingers after the lights go up.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2005

The film's use of once-imposing, now-crumbling New York architecture is particularly effective in underscoring the story with an air of widespread urban decay.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 20, 2003

The filmmakers pull out the stops to get their message across.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Van Peebles wanted to tell this story; his heart is in it, and it's got a killer beat.

| Jan 1, 2000

Mario Van Peebles's drugland feature, a relentless, hold-on-to-your-hat experience, rarely lets up.

| Jan 1, 2000

| Original Score: C- | Jan 1, 1800