The Diva's review of
Waist Deep (2006)

O2 (Tyrese Gibson), is an ex-con who’s working as an armed (????) security guard in South Central. While he is working, O2 depends on his cousin Lucky (not so much) to pick up his young son Junior (H. Hunter Hall). One afternoon, Lucky (Larenz Tate) fails to pick Junior up, and O2 has to leave work to go get him and on the way home he is car-jacked with Junior left in the back seat.

O2 kills most of the assailants, but not the one who is still driving with Junior in the back seat. Unable to go to the police because he just killed 3 men while on 2 strikes, he must figure out how to do this himself. He enlists Coco (Meagan Good), the young woman who set him up as a mark in the first place, and together they formulate a plan to get Junior back.

Here is where the story gets a little murky…

The man holding Junior is an old business associate of O2, one who claims that O2 owes him $100,000. This man, Big Meat (The Game) is a violent criminal who will stop at nothing to see that his wishes are met. O2 and Coco are walking a thin line. They are stealing from The Meat and his rival in hopes of not only gathering 100k in 24 hours, but to get the two dealers to take each other out. But will their plan fail and get them and Junior killed?

This is the most violent anti-violent movie I’ve ever seen. Throughout this movie there is the interwoven theme of nonviolence. It’s not even subtle, in fact one scene has a violent crime taking place during an anti-violence rally and no one sees it happening. I get the point. I get the irony. I got it all, but I would have preferred some subtlety. The way they chose to tell the story caused it to bounce all over the place. I think the better movie would have been to do everything he could have to save his son without killing anyone this would have saved the anti-violence message from being completely lost.

I don’t need to make any commentary about another black movie filled with gang and drug violence. I’m starting to feel like a broken record.

I was impressed with Tyrese, despite the impossible plot, he, in fact both he and Meagan were pleasantly surprising. And as always, I was happy to see Larenz Tate back on screen. He really needs to work more often.

Just looking at the genre, this is a cut above the normal. This is by no means an endorsement of this movie, but it is better than most.

3BC Ratings