1992
Social justice narrative takes back seat to genre picture conventions.
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Co-writer/producer/director Ariel Vromen’s heist thriller “1992” (in theaters beginning Friday, Aug. 30) is a lot of things – an arguably tasteless cash-in on the L.A. Riots, a throwback to urban crime dramas of the early 1990s (I was reminded especially of moments in “Boyz N the Hood” and “Judgment Night”) and a testament to the acting abilities of the late great Ray Liotta as it’s his final film.
Tyrese Gibson (sporting a bad beard and an impressive performance) stars as Mercer Bey, a recently paroled former gangbanger who’s regained custody of his teenage son Antoine (Christopher A’mmanuel) after the boy’s mother and grandmother pass away.
Mercer’s living on the straight and narrow working a maintenance job at Pluton Metals, which manufactures catalytic converters. He expects Antoine to follow suit by keeping his nose clean – even after the Rodney King verdict. Mercer lectures his son about not doing what’s expected of them and goes so far as to take Antoine to work with him overnight so they’ll be safe.
Little does Mercer know a crew has set their sights on Pluton. They are Riggin (Scott Eastwood), his brother Dennis (Dylan Arnold) and their career criminal father Lowell (Liotta) as well as Riggin and Dennis’ buddy Copeland (Clé Bennett) and Lowell’s associates Titus (Oleg Taktarov) and Murphy (Ori Pfeffer). They figure employees have been sent home, the LAPD will have bigger fish to fry and they’ll easily be able to make a mint raiding the platinum vault. Bad decisions are made and bodies begin dropping with Mercer and Antoine fighting for their survival.
The Israeli-American Vromen, best known for the Michael Shannon-starring “The Iceman” and the Kevin Costner vehicle “Criminal,” is a perfectly serviceable filmmaker. He often seems to make middle-of-the-road movies with good casts and “1992” is no exception. This is well-worn territory elevated by the strong performances of Gibson and especially Liotta, who’s downright terrifying here. They’re far and away the best reasons to take this sad stroll down memory lane.
“1992” is first and foremost a genre picture and its social justice storyline takes a back seat to so-so car chases and shoot-outs, which begs the question why matters of such gravity were integrated into the narrative in the first place?