Review: Dead Presidents

Young African-American Larenz Tate goes through all manner of hell in Vietnam, and comes home to find a) his neighbourhood has gone to hell, b) he can’t hold a job, c) his girlfriend Rose Jackson has given him a child he now needs to support, and Jackson has fallen in with a sleazy pimp (charismatic Clifton Powell), d) His best buddy (Chris Tucker, nearly as effective as Chris Rock was in “New Jack City” but not quite) has become a major crack head, and e) His one-legged former employer (Keith David, great as always, playing a pool-hall operator) has also fallen on hard times. So what’s a young black Vietnam veteran to do? Rob a bank of course! Somewhat unbelievably, Tate’s fellow robbers (in addition to Tucker and David) include a militant sister-in-law (N’Bushe Wright), and the nutjob killer who was in his platoon in ‘Nam (Bokeem Woodbine) and has now become a preacher. He’s about as effective in that job as say, D’Urville Martin’s character was in “Dolemite”. James Pickens Jr. and Isaiah Washington (later to co-star together on TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”) are wasted as Tate’s somewhat ineffectual father and straight-laced brother. Seymour Cassel has an excellent uncredited part as Tate’s likeable one-time employer.

Overly ambitious 1995 Hughes Brothers (“Menace II Society”) flick starts out as an African-American centred Vietnam flick (think a black “Best Years of Our Lives”), before turning into a caper flick. It’s stylishly done (loved the pantomime robbery makeup), and features some great performances (Tate, Powell, Terrence Howard, and especially David and Tucker) but never quite comes off. This is mostly due to a lack of credibility in terms of character motivation (chiefly in the characters played by Woodbine, Wright, and Tate. The latter is too smart and level-headed to go in the direction he does, Vietnam horror or not, and the audience loses respect for him as a result. There’s also some ridiculously over-the-top work by Woodbine (featuring scenes of disgusting violence and deviant behaviour during battle I might add). The one big plus is a superlative soul-flavoured soundtrack, featuring numbers by Isaac Hayes (principally ‘Walk On By’), James Brown, Barry White, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and others. It’s definitely one of the best movie soundtracks in a long time.

Scripted by Michael Henry Brown (from a story by The Hughes’), the film isn’t exactly boring, but doesn’t work overall. Were we meant to sympathise with these people’s plight post-Vietnam? C’mon, there’s only so much one can take. These guys did wrong, no matter what they had suffered, or at least, the Hughes’ argument just isn’t strong enough. The ending is pretty darn silly as well.

Rating: C