Good concept, poorly executed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The first must-see film of the year.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is an excellent thriller, with enough use of dialogue deftly interspersed with the action scenes to give depth to the characters and draw you in. Some of the monologues seem to tell a story all their own, creating a layered effect to the drama. The cast was very well chosen and put to good use to tell the very dramatic story. It is almost an ensemble cast because they seem to be so connected to each other. Some are obvious, and others you may only notice in reflection or a second viewing. The deft editing made this movie what it is. You may find yourself glued to your chair, breathless, waiting for the next move. Some scenes slow down a bit, while characters share fear, anger and pain, and then you're hit with a big change of pace. Sometimes there's a fade out, or fade in, but sometimes just a jolt. The lead actors, Jim Belushi and Tupac Shakur, play two cops who've gotten themselves into a big mess, out of which they can only lie, cheat, steal and kill in order to save their jobs, and their lives. Naturally, this behavior cannot help but hurt others. Jim and Tupac had a great chemistry here. Their acting was top notch. Belushi is really good in comedies, but put him in a heavy dramatic role and he really blooms. Tupac could have had a great career in acting had he not died so young. He is missed. There is a certain amount of comic relief here and there, which helps with the tension created by the chaos of crooked cops, drugs and murder. They will take you by surprise, no doubt. James Earl Jones is a wonderful addition to the cast, his character gently weaving the drama together to quite a surprising anti-climax. I know this type of film is not necessarily for everyone. Maybe fans have gotten a little tired of the bad cops story line. Personally, however, I think it's one of the very best on the subject to come out of Tinsel Town. Some reviewers felt it had no realism, but I think it had a bit too much. Some scenes are so realistic that my back crawls a bit. Cops are only people, and there are some good and some bad. This film is gritty and could be hard to take for some. But is IS good. No matter how many times I see it in the listings, I manage to sit down for at least some of it. Bottom line: great screenplay, excellent editing, dynamic acting and insightful and gifted directing. Highly recommend.

A duo of cops + dope + a famous-rapper-turned-movie-star, what can you expect from such a mix of ingredients? The usual vile brew, you may say... But surprise! "Gang Related" soon proves worth much better than that – a fact you realize right from the very first minutes of projection, – and with what pleasure! Directed by the relatively unknown Jim Kouf, the film can indeed boast a personal tone, which makes it easily stand out of the crowd of lowbrow crime movies. Of course there is a duo of cops in this one but, to begin with, they are bad cops, a sure guarantee against an umpteenth rehash of "48 Hours", while creating at the same time a malaise rather uncommon in the duo of cops sub-genre. The two improbable partners here are white detective DiVinci (James Belushi, excelling at being unbearably talkative and self- satisfied) and his black counterpart Jake Rodriguez (Tupac Shakur, surprisingly collected in his last role). Another originality of the script is that they are not reluctant partners like in Hollywood's run of the mill cop movies: on the contrary they are on the same wavelength and not for the sake of fighting the good fight. Or to be more exact they were... as long as their shenanigans did not go too far. Because just now DiVinci is crossing the line. Not content indeed to steal the drug from dealers, he has started to kill them. Which is not to the taste of Rodriguez who, although not a lamb himself, cannot put up with such deviations anymore. Little by little he turns into the Jiminy Cricket type but to no avail: the more he tries to refrain his partner, the more radical DiVinci gets. One of the plot's driving forces is precisely the worsening of the two men's relationships, with a more and more reluctant Tupac Shakur and a more and more freewheeling James Belushi, without the former managing to curb the latter's blind madness. The second main effective element lies in the parallel (and inexorable) worsening of the situation they find themselves in. As a matter of fact, DiVinci, who thinks he has a knack for finding ways out of bad situations invariably makes his mate and him jump out of the fire into the frying pan. The suspense does not lie in their desperate rushing along then – it is a recipe for disaster - but stems from the question 'how will DiVinci manage to make them sink even lower ?, Thrilling throughout, extremely well written, "Gang Related" is a superior crime movie – and with a moral viewpoint to crown it all. Nothing to do with Tarantino and his complacent displays of cynicism and sadistic violence. In 'Gang Related', the viewer is confronted from the beginning to the end to the question: are you ready to break the law in your everyday life and if so, where do you draw the line? But be reassured, nothing to do with boring lecturing either. Fun and surprise await you instead.

When released this film didn't garner much attention. It did decent business at the box office but nothing to brag about. With the passing of Tupac Shakur interest increased and fans clamored for any and all things Tupac. Now the film makes its way to blu-ray courtesy of Olive Video.Det. Frank Divinci and Det. Rodriguez (James Belushi and Tupac) are two corrupt cops more interested in making money than in doing their jobs. This isn't to say they can't get the job done that they're paid to do, they are good at finding bad guys. But becoming bad guys they find themselves in more trouble than expected.The two have stolen drugs, sold them, took the money from their mark and then killed him. Who would notice a dead drug dealer, especially if the detectives investigating the killing were these two cops? Problems arise when their latest mark turns out to be an undercover DEA agent.Given the job of finding the killer the pair come upon a homeless man (Dennis Quaid) and pin the rap on him. They even get Frank's girlfriend (Lela Rochon) to testify that she saw him do it. But their plan starts to unravel on several levels. Rochon begins to have second doubts about what she is doing. Worse yet it turns out that Quaid is actually a wealthy businessman who went missing some years ago. His lawyers turn up to rescue him and with that everything begins to fall apart. As the duo tries to figure out what to do clues to the real killer begin to mount.What makes the movie interesting is that it is told from their perspective, two corrupt cops as opposed to a mainstream hero trying to solve the mystery. Instead we have the reverse with two killers who have the means to cover their trail easily but who create so many mistakes that their tension over what to do next becomes ours as well.It's difficult to sympathize with these two main characters but before the movie ends you find yourself wondering if perhaps they will do the right thing. Therein lies much of the tension found in the film. That desire to make atonement for past indiscretions while at the same time knowing it will results in the loss of your freedom and perhaps the loss of your life makes you wonder if either is willing to go through with it. At the same time you wonder if they will indeed get away with it all.Tupac showed that he had a career ahead of him as an actor with a meaty role like this. He does a fantastic job and is quite believable in the part. It's a shame he never had the opportunity. I've said for years that Belushi was a better actor than people have given him credit for. He started off in the shadow of his older brother John and then was pushed into comedic roles only for a time. His handling of dramatic roles showed he could do both.While it's nice that Olive has released the film on blu-ray for fans of the film and of Tupac they once again show no effort to present anything but the movie itself. Extras are non-existent. As they move forward let's hope more of their releases see some effort on their part for things that some would enjoy. In the meantime at least the film is offered in a well done format with a nice print to work from. If you enjoy gritty cop dramas then you're bound to enjoy this one.

Gang Related had me a bit exicted back in 97 it was the last movie performance of Tupac and he's the only good thing in this slow paced and somewhat predictable movie. James Belushi makes a horrible bad guy and Dennis Quaid is watsed. See this one just for Shakur's performance.