“New Jack City” is a crime film with a lot of energy. It brings you into the harsh and violent world of America’s urban drug problem. Unfortunately, I just was not very captivated by what was on offer. This is a movie where effort has clearly been put it but it just does not do all that much for me.

Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes “Passenger 57”, “White Men Can’t Jump”) is a ruthless crime boss that tightens his grip on New York City, making himself rich at the expense of those suffering with drug addiction. A dedicated police officer (Ice-T “Tank Girl”, “Johnny Mnemonic”) is determined to bring an end to Brown’s reign of terror.

Wesley Snipes is really good as the head gangster. He steals the show and gives easily the best performance in the whole movie. I would have liked the whole movie to focus on him much like “Scarface” focuses on Pacino’s character. Brown even watches “Scarface” in one scene. Unfortunately, Ice-T is rather lacklustre as Scotty Appleton. I just did not care about this character and whether he succeeded or not. Judd Nelson (“Steel”, “The Breakfast Club”) is really boring as Scotty’s partner. Chris Rock (“Lethal Weapon 4”) is painfully annoying as a drug addict that decides to help Scotty bring down the bad guys. Aside from Snipes’ character, everybody else is just really dull.

“New Jack City” looks great at times with some stylish scenes depicting drug addiction and gangster violence. However, I just never engaged fully with what was going on. With better writing and better performances, this could have been a great movie. This is a film that has enough of the ingredients to work but it’s just missing something. There are better cop movies such as “Lethal Weapon” and “Heat” and there are better films about issues facing black Americans such as “Do The Right Thing”.