Made during the black film boom that followed the success of BOYZ N THE HOOD, DEEP COVER is that rare and beautiful thing--a genuinely smart action movie. Screenwriters Michael Tolkin (THE PLAYER) and Henry Bean have written a clever but gritty, hard-hitting script, and director Bill Duke (A... [More]

Made during the black film boom that followed the success of BOYZ N THE HOOD, DEEP COVER is that rare and beautiful thing--a genuinely smart action movie. Screenwriters Michael Tolkin (THE PLAYER) and Henry Bean have written a clever but gritty, hard-hitting script, and director Bill Duke (A RAGE IN HARLEM) brings just the right tone to the material. It has an appropriately gloomy palette of glaring reds and dark blues and a dissonant, hip-hop-influenced score that enhances the sardonic mood. Laurence Fishburne narrates and stars in the challenging role of Russell Stevens Jr., an undercover cop who finds himself slipping onto the wrong side of the law. The federal agent who runs the undercover operation (Charles Martin Smith) tells Stevens to enjoy his drug-dealer lifestyle. And when the motives of the government Stevens works for come into question, the line between cop and criminal gets even more blurred. Stevens, the somber cop, has the perfect counterpoint in David Jason (Jeff Goldblum), the hilariously manic crooked lawyer. While Stevens is tormented and questions the morality of his every action, the formerly sheltered Jason is at first terrified, then enthralled by becoming a drug kingpin and a killer. [Less]