I must admit any time I see a Wesley Snipes movie on DVD I am a buyer, simply because the guy has great screen presence (I still see him as the best black actor in the general Clint Eastwood/Bruce Willis type roles zone) and usually (with admittedly a few notable exceptions) he avoids appearing in too many turkeys!

Snipes as usual does not disappoint in this 2006 offering, with a well balanced acting role of "Lucky", a gangster ("hell I probably killed more blacks than the Klu Klux Klan!") trying to go straight despite life's hardships, as shown in an amazing opening sequence using the New Orleans floods as a backdrop, with overall the right balance between acting and action (think the earlier "The Art of War").

This film also has several additional features to recommend it, being:

The reuniting with Mario van Peebles from "New Jack City" who in the director seat, co writer and pushy "good" cop acting roles creates a neat follow on movie with Wesley.
Well structured interlocking stories of the pushy cop and struggling reformed gangster under 1. running parallel with an odd couple of Cybill Shepherd (in full on embittered "crazy mama" role) and her martial arts toy boy (James Liao) who kidnap and torture people in their upstate farm; a group of "dirty cops" who having failed in a sting targeting Wesley that went wrong need to recover their stolen money; and a loser boxer and his girlfriend who get kidnapped by the odd couple (the deleted scenes included in the DVD serve to reinstate the intended build up of this specific story which was clearly cut for general release purposes).
Several great other supporting actors and roles including especially Jacquelyn Quinones as a volatile Hispanic pole dancer Wesley has to "kidnap" to escape the sting and who brings an earthy reality to the role that brings it alive, plus a memorable over the top special appearance by Luis Guzman as a hoodlum porn film producer.
An effective soundtrack by Tree Adams that maybe because I listened to the movie on stereo headphones seemed to underpin the story line a lot better than most other soundtracks (a comment also made by Van Peebles in his "Behind the scenes" interview included)
A great feel for location and image through the cinematography and art direction between upstate countryside and lower NYC.

I came pretty close to considering a "5 stars" given all the above but fear the level of deriving from others (especially several shades of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction") plus the Hollywood ending defeated that accolade!

The story itself is weak and in parts, it does come together. While watching I thought it is just a copy of "pulp fiction" complete with psycho.

The acting is okay. Snipes is about the best and at least his character has some character.

The filming is good.

If you have an hour or two to kill it is okay.

yeah, it is not the greatest thriller i have ever seen - but it does a respectable job of keeping the viewer engrossed.

the plot is not as confusing as it is made out to be - pretty straight forward imo - except for some complexity as to who is involved in the drug deal setup - but that's only a side plot which does not have too much of a bearing on the main plot.

snipes has not lost it yet and is still the cool action cat, his latino partner shows potential and will shine brighter in the movies to come and cybil sheperd in a memorable role as a psychotic torturer.

and mario van peebles has an eye for color - striking sets, scenes and photography.

Mario Van Peebles has done some good work in his past but this bizarre, confusing, silly dud is not one of them. The script feels like someone gave a party for wannabe writers, told them each to submit a plot for a far out film, then mixed them all together and came up with a hash that in the end is merely a re-do of the bad guy turned good guy on the run - with diversions.

Lucky (Wesley Snipes) is released from prison with the plan of going straight. Of course his buddy covets his reputation and invites him to his birthday party where Lucky lusts after a pole dancer Angela (Jackie Quinones) and manages to become involved in a dirty cop drug deal that sends him on the usual wild car chase with Angela looking for a way to hideout with the corrupt money stashed in metal suitcases (rigged of course). After a shootout in a motel, the couple seeks housing from a gay porno filmmaker Mendez (Luis Guzmán in yet another chameleon role) and his associate Antonio (Gavin J. Behrman) who just happens to be in on the dirty cop aspect of the drug deal.

Off Lucky and Angela drive to a wooded area where they hole up next door to a weirdo pair of serial killers - Cass (Cybill Shepherd), who is angry at the world for negative response to her retarded grown son Eugene (Mike Messier), and Chang (James Hiroyuki Liao), Cass's strangely sick lover and wannabe martial arts expert (yeah, that is thrown in, too) - who kidnap victims and torture and kill them in Hollywood-style videotaped sequences. Of course, when Lucky and Angela need telephone help, Lucky goes next door, is immediately strapped into a torture chair, only eventually to be discovered by the bad of bad cops and one decent cop, Captain Davis, played by Mario Van Peebles of course. And things change and intertwine and nobody really cares.

Wesley Snipes does have charisma and it is because of him that the film is watchable, but even his role doesn't explain why this mess was made in the first place. It looks and sounds like a very low budget film on which probably millions were spent. Pass on this one unless you're in the mood to laugh AT a movie instead of with one. Grady Harp, November 06

This movie reminded me of Pulp Ficition, especially the part when Lucky is captured by Cybil Shepards' character and nearly tortured. My boyfriend enjoyed this movie and I think it's because Lucky held a Puerto Rican stripper hostage throughout the entire movie. Go figure.