WAIST DEEP

US, 2006, 97 minutes, Colour.
Tyrese Gibson, Meagan Good, Larenz Tate, The Game.
Directed by Vondie Curtis- Hall.

There is a whole American genre and industry about violence in the ‘hoods of the major American cities. This one is as good as any other. The setting is south Los Angeles.

Tyrese Gibson plays an ex-con who is determined to go straight and works in a security job. He is devoted to his young son (who is played vigorously by the son of the director, Curtis Vondie Hall). By a series of accidents, especially concerning his wayward brother (Larenz Tate), he finds himself late in picking up his son from school, accosted at traffic lights by a young woman trying to sell him a suit, then finds his car hijacked with his son still in it.

Needless to say, there are a lot of complications as we discover the reason for the hijack ordered by a local gang boss. Our hero and the young woman join forces to find and rescue the boy. They also have to use their wits to confront the thug.

There is fast-paced action as well as some personal drama. Geared for its niche audience in the US, it is still an interesting enough example of its type.

1.A film for African American audiences? Los Angeles? The style, the language, rap? The gangs, criminal neighbourhoods? Family?

2.The authentic locations, the streets, the homes, the offices, the clubs? The action sequences? Violence? The musical score?

3.The title, the play on words? The waste of Los Angeles?

4.The focus on O2, as gangster, his prison sentence, his release, security guard, wanting to keep his job? The pressures? His son and his relationship with his son? How satisfactory a father?

5.The son, Otis Junior, his relationship with his father? The episode with the gun and his father warning him about the gun? The carjacking, O2 being absent from his job, the danger of losing it? The encounter with Coco, trying to sell him things? The setup for the carjacking? The abduction of Otis Junior? O2 and the chase, running? The guns, the gangsters and the shootout?

6.Coco, her background, the scam? Her relationship with O2? Part of the carjacking? O2 confronting her, forcing her to assist him? His relationship with Lucky, cousin? Lucky as unreliable but willing to help?

7.Otis Junior, the abduction, the effect, the drug lord, Meat? The background of Meat, his using O2, Meat’s betrayal and O2 in prison? The demand for a ransom?

8.O2 and Coco and their decisions to get the money, raising the money, the action raids of the gangsters? The bank robberies, the burglaries?

9.The meeting, Otis Junior and his father? The guns, Lucky and his being wounded? Saving O2’s life from Meat?

10.The police, the police at the action? O2 and Coco, urging them to go to Mexico? The police and the capture of O2? His escape and driving the car into the river?

11.The surprise at the happy ending, the Mexican beach, O2 appearing, the boy running to his father? Coco and the background of their relationship, their future together?

12.The portrait of the gangsters, Meat? His henchmen? Lucky and his decisions, unwitting betrayals? Being wounded?

13.A credible picture of this part of Los Angeles, gangs, the world of violence?