Cut Throat City

I didn't necessarily think this was a terrible movie but I feel it could have been much better, maybe needed a better director or something. The lead actors were good actors but this could have been the next hood classic movie but it fail short.

Four best friends from the Lower Ninth Ward in post-Katrina New Orleans are struggling to survive. They try to rob a casino under the direction of local gangster Cousin Bass. It goes wrong and they become fugitives from both Bass and the law.

The characters are talking about Tarantino. RZA is obviously taking some homage with him. It's nowhere near that level but non of that is a cinematic sin. The first half is actually pretty good. I like the four buddies and I like crime drama. I like T.I. I like this movie until Terrence Howard and Ethan Hawke show up. Those characters are unnecessary and the movie is too long anyways. After the first half, it only needs a few more scenes before a big shoot-out to finish off a good crime B-movie. It wastes a couple A-level talents and the movie is compromised by them.

I liked this movie for showing us realistic criminals, police, and their problems, all which remind me of real life ones. All characters look real and deep enough, can be remembered by look and behavior. Emotional, both positively and negatively, in from of hope and sadness. Good story and lesson explained in one sentence and two different scenarios. The only bad thing here is too much smaller heists, characters, problems, instead of higher quality but less. I expected less quantity and more quality of heists, criminals, scenarios. Also nice presence of religion and morality.

A decent made for streaming urban crime drama, 4 childhood friends , trying to pursue their dreams of success, get hit with the calamity of Hurricane Katrina in their community and all hope for survival seem doubtful, RZA did what he could with the material to bring us a tale that is all too real, the acting from the veteran actors was excellent, the camera work during some scenes was a little chaotic, the plot could have been a little more coherent in some scenes , the soundtrack was excellent , the young actors that portrayed the friends, their skills will continue to develop, but got the job done in their roles, overall decent watch, I want to see more films from RZA in the future, he has potential to be a good director.

This is not a great film. It's okay. I'm enjoying this film. This is a gritty movie. If you've never been hungry you would not understand