CUT THROAT CITY – A Review by Hollywood Hernandez
Cut Throat City, currently showing on Netflix, is about four African-American men who live in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The four men have been friends since childhood, and they return to the 9th Ward after the city is devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The four men are out of money, and out of luck, after FEMA denies their requests for any type of federal aid. The movie, produced by music producer RZA (Wu Tang Clan), is a dark crime story about the four friends accepting an opportunity to follow a 9th Ward drug lord, played by T.I., who enlists them to pull a broad daylight heist at a casino right in the heart of New Orleans.
As the gang tries to get away, they are pursued by the cops and one of the four friends is killed. They also run into more trouble when they come up short on the robbery money and the drug lord orders his men to kill the remaining gang members.
The friends fight their way out of the jam and look for a spot to lay low for a while. Blink, played by Shameik Moore, is the lead character. He recently married and is concerned for the safety of his family.
The movie has a lot of big-name actors in small parts like Wesley Snipes, Terrance Howard, and Ethan Hawke. The acting in the movie is stellar but, until the final scenes, the movie goes into a lot of the characters’ philosophies on racism, capitalism, and their feelings on artwork and how it affects black culture. The final twenty minutes of the film is the best part of the movie and that part is filled with graphic, violent scenes, earning the movie an R-rating.
With the premise of coming home to New Orleans after Katrina, this could have been a better movie; but unfortunately, it’s not. On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I rate Cut Throat City a MEDIUM.
