By teasing us with potential meaning only to embrace wanton gunplay, Waist Deep betrays thinking members in the audience.
Waist Deep (2006)
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:20
Rotten:56
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: A well-meaning B-movie that suffers from a cliche-ridden script and poorly drawn characters that fail to inspire much sympathy.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong violence and pervasive language.
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Jun 23, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $21,318,194
Synopsis: This sun scorched, bullet-blasted South Central L.A. story follows the car- and corpse-strewn trail of an ex-con turned security guard O2 (Tyrese Gibson), who gets carjacked while his son is still... This sun scorched, bullet-blasted South Central L.A. story follows the car- and corpse-strewn trail of an ex-con turned security guard O2 (Tyrese Gibson), who gets carjacked while his son is still asleep in the backseat. The thugs hold the child for ransom, and O2 has 48 hours to come up with a hundred grand. His only lead in getting the kid back is Coco (Meagan Good) the cutie who distracted him at the traffic light. Together they bicker, fall in love, and launch a plan to take down a vicious gang leader named Meat (The Game) while they roll along on a bank-robbing spree. Director Vondie Curtis-Hall keeps the action humming and swathes his gritty South Central locations in a thick haze of urban grime and chaotic spontaneity, making it reminiscent of 1970s cult classics like BLACK CAESAR and THE WARRIORS. Tyrese is more than up for the job here as the tough but tender O2; he and the very sexy Meagan Good generate major onscreen chemistry. Larenz Tate plays O2's dope-head cousin, and Kimora Lee Simmons has a funny cameo as a fencer of hot designer dresses. Her husband, Russell Simmons, was one of the producers. [More]
Starring: Game, Tyrese Gibson, Paul Terrel Clayton, Meagan Good
Starring: Game, Tyrese Gibson, Paul Terrel Clayton, Meagan Good, Eric Lane
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall
Producer: Ted Field, Preston L. Holmes
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Studio: Focus Features
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Release:
Mar 22, 2009
DVD Features:
- Region [unknown]
- Snap Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
- Subtitles: English, SDH, French, Spanish
Additional Release Material:
- Deleted Scenes
- Music Video: "Bad Girls" Music Video
Featurette:
- 1. Analysis of a Scene
- 2. Drive by Filmmaking
Reviews for Waist Deep
Everyone connected with this gangsta opus was probably trying to make a crowd-pleaser. However, you wind up wondering what kind of crowds they were trying to please.
The dialogue by Curtis-Hall and Darin Scott is a degrading string of profanities and inanities, interspersed with sadism and exploitation of women. Their opinion of their target audience should depress moviegoers of any color.
The problem with Waist Deep is that it has too many small parts. Individually, the parts are fine. Once assembled, though, they don't add up to much.
Vondie Curtis Hall helmed Gridlock'd, a low-budget buddy thriller starring Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth, with nary a rote moment. This is not the case with Waist Deep, a big-budget thriller with nary an original moment.
A cynical excuse for the writer and director (and talented actor) Vondie Curtis-Hall to sock some money away for the kids' college tuition.
It's hard to figure out if writer/director Vondie Curtis-Hall... is demonstrating simple ineptitude here, or out-and-out Ed Wood-itude.
Waist Deep is just another one of those middle-of-the-road action flicks.
I could almost recommend this action movie as an entertaining ride, but I wouldn't pay theater-price to see it.
Waist Deep is what used to be called a B movie, back in the days when there were double features... It's a hard little melodrama, done well.
A Juilliard-trained musician, accomplished actor and busy TV director, Vondie Curtis Hall is probably too smart to be directing stories like Waist Deep.
The lead actors are good, and the film moves along so well that audiences may overlook plot holes that are, well, waist deep.
Director Vondie Curtis-Hall squanders a perfectly decent cast on a corny and surprisingly dull urban thriller.
What do you expect from the man who not only directed Glitter, but spent an entire DVD commentary track defending the film?
It plays like an urban western: a strong, quiet loner takes on a corrupt man who runs the town with the help of a girl gone wrong with a heart of gold.
The camerawork is jerky and distracting, the dialogue is cliched and the story makes so little sense that the script seems to have been improvised by the actors as they went along.
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