The worst is saved for last: just when you think the movie has shown the courage of its 'gritty' convictions, it hits you with schmaltz that would shame a Hallmark card.
Comment
11/11/06
Waist Deep (2006)
26 %
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: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Theatrical Release: 03-11-2006
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 asleep in the backseat. The thugs hold the child for ransom, and O2 has 48 hours to come up with a... [More]
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Tyrese Gibson, Meagan Good, Paul Terrel Clayton, Game, Eric Lane
Reviews
Top CriticClick to read the article
11/04/06
Top Critic
From its non-committal title downwards -- we’re a bit worse than ankle deep, but not quite neck deep -- the film includes a final shot that is almost surreal in its implausibility. Waist Deep? More like Deep Waste.
11/02/06
Top Critic
The cast just about escapes with its dignity after this derivative, predictable urban thriller.
10/28/06
Would most likely have made for a decent late-night Cinemax staple, but its stabs at higher significance only bring on the giggles.
10/21/07
I saw Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie and Clyde is a major American movie. Waist Deep, sir, is no Bonnie and Clyde.
02/07/07
Just looking at the genre, this is a cut above the normal. This is by no means an endorsement of this movie, but it is better than most.
12/30/06
A carjacking leads to violence, revenge and antiheroes impossible to root for in Waist Deep, an urban gangster crime-thriller.
07/10/06
The rare summer film that actually delivers what it promises -- 90-odd minutes of lurid trash with hardly a single socially redeeming moment to be had. It even takes the time to illustrate some of my all-time favorite action movie cliches.
07/08/06
The efforts of Waist Deep to make some meaningful social commentary about street gangs and the vicious circle in which African-American men often find themselves seem like an afterthought, rather than anything remotely sincere.
07/08/06
Implausible - with every urban cliche and stereotype - a complete waste of time and money.
07/07/06
Curtis Hall keeps slipping in surprising social and emotional flavorings rarely found in [this] genre.
07/05/06
If only director Vondie Curtis Hall were content with making a lean, mean action thriller, as he and his film soon find themselves waist deep and in over their head in pretentious ambition.
07/04/06
Marred by absurd plot digressions and choppy, sloppy and incoherent shaky-camera action sequences.
06/30/06
lets it's booming gangsta rap soundtrack cover up the sad truth that the film doesn't have a real message.
06/29/06
The Game attempts to exude menace through hardcore forehead-wrinkling and gangsta nose-crinkling, but his efforts are more comic than sinister.
06/29/06
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