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Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles, Allen Payne, Judd Nelson ... see more see more... , Chris Rock , John Aprea , Nick Ashford , Harold Baines , Sekou Campbell , Thelma Louise Carter , Bill Cobbs , Anthony De Sando , Eek-A-Mouse , Fab 5 Freddy , Flavor Flav , Clebert Ford , Tiger Frederick , Linda Froehlich , David Michael Golson , Ben Gottlieb , Aaron Hall , Damion Hall , Laverne Hart , Garvin Holder , Tracy Camilla Johns , Rynel Johnson , Tina Lifford , Marcella Lowery , Erica McFarquhar , Christopher Michael , Michael Michele , Kelly Jo Minter , Bill Nunn , Leo O'Brien , Chang Park Kim , Max Rabinowitz , Paul Raczkowski , Thalmus Rasulala , Teddy Riley , Manuel Santiago , Gregg Smrz , Bobby Stancil , Phyllis Yvonne Stickney , Keith Sweat , Russell Wong , Gerald Levert , Allen McNeil , Max Raven , Erik Kilpatrick , Vanessa A. Williams , Christopher Williams

The ruthless leader of a New York City drug syndicate battles to maintain his power and avoid imprisonment in this fast-moving action drama. While the film's heroes are Scotty (Ice-T) and Nick (Judd N... read more read more...elson), a pair of tough, streetwise cops, the main focus is their target, drug lord Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes). A criminal businessman with no room for pity or emotion, the flashy but severe Brown has built an empire and transformed an abandoned Harlem apartment building into a well-defended fortress. He begins to consider himself invincible, but his lust for power and the unpredictable actions of a former client turned police informer threaten to bring about his potential downfall. First-time director Mario Van Peebles keeps the traditional plot moving at an appropriately rapid pace, with stylish action sequences and energetic performances. The film's violence was somewhat controversial on its initial release, especially after shooting incidents marred showings in several theaters. However, the film's moral message is clearly anti-drug and anti-crime, its main intent to provide a high-powered, modern take on the gangster movie. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

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39% want to see it

43,220 ratings

Critics

76% liked it

29 critics

R, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Mario Van Peebles

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DVD Release Date: August 25, 1998

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Flixster Reviews (1,541)

  • garyX
    December 31, 2010
    garyX
    A team of maverick cops investigate when a gangster takes over an entire tenement block in the New York ghetto. Although this film enjoys a good reputation as a hard-hitting, socially conscious representation of life in "the hood", it is actually EXACTLY the kind of testosterone-... read moresoaked, cliched crap that Mario Van Peebles has made his bread and butter ever since. Tacking on montages of drug use and a couple of lines about the "drug problem" at the end does NOT a social documentary make. It's really just the same old straight to DVD standard Van Damme/Seagal level tripe with a blaxploitation spin, and features some of the kinds of fashions that have been forgotten with good reason. Not to mention a soundtrack that ignores the era in which some of the best hip hop was made, instead littering it with the kind of "R'N'B" warbling that is the worst thing to EVER happen to popular music. The direction is beyond amateurish, script cliche-riddled and dumb and performances vary between laughable stereotypes and just plain awful (Chris Rock is truly dire and the Pookie-on-the-pipe montage is one of the most laughable attempts at manipulation I've ever seen). Try King Of New York or Dead Presidents instead, because this is just substandard junk trying to make a few bucks out of showing black people kill each other and pretending it's "important".
  • ythelastman89
    May 23, 2010
    ythelastman89
    Really one of the best modern gangster movies and definitely the most violent and all out crazy only next to Scarface. This is so different from the average Italian Mobster type of movie and it's really refreshing in that sense. However, it does have all the shootings and drugs t... read morehat are such a staple of the crime genre so you aren't cheated out of that. It's got a great cast led by the unstoppable Wesley Snipes and no nonsense Ice-T. I think this is the most accurate and timely gangster movie of the nineties, which means a lot being released around the same time as Goodfellas, Godfather Pt. III and Casino.
  • sanjurosamurai
    January 25, 2010
    sanjurosamurai
    a movie that might take itself too seriously at times, but definitely has the star power and screenwriting to keep the audience plugged into the events as they happen. each of the actors play the types of roles they were all destined and born to play, and although we've seen the... read more plot before, we dont usually see it with this much grit and honesty unless we're watching a mafia film. solid film.
  • kpn666
    February 22, 2009
    kpn666
    One of the best American gangster films... and all black. Yep, its an all black film, only one white actor in the form of Judd Nelson, and funnily enough, he' s supposed to be Italian.





    Anyways, back in the day, this was DA MOVIE of the times... the thriller of th... read moree year. Now the veteran of many B-grade movies, this is Mario Van Pebbles crown jewel, and of course starring Wesley Snipes and Ice T, both going on to bigger and better things.





    Welcome to New Jack City, aka New York, its the late 80's and the Casg Money Brothers , led by the infamous Nino Brown, are out to get their American Dream, one crystal crack piece at a time. Devising an brutal plan, they take over a neighbourhood and terrorise the public into the business... bcoming the largest drug producers in New York. But this doesnt go unnoticed by the police, and in order to fight the losing war against the CMB, the police turn to two of their most notorious, but best undercover cops on the street, the only pair capable of walking the thin line between the law and crime to get the job done.





    Powerful, pretty graphic and steeped in drugs and depravity, its pretty realistic... dont expect high and fancy computer graphics and such, this filmed old skool, or B-grade as people might say, but certainly one of the best B-grade movies released into the mainstream. Crystal clear and good cinematography, som really good camera work around NY, the music is of course 1980's Hip Hop and rap, so if you into the black cultue, this is a great movie to watch, it reeks of blackism.





    The performances is what made this movie a cut above the rest. Not shabby as people might expect from a low budget movie, but very down and dirty and realistic - helps if you got bad asses like Wesley and Ice T leading the charge. Its a gripping drama, a plot filled with family values and morality admist all the immorality and evil of society, an interesting balance - not to uptight, but just eh right touch of seediness and bottom level depravity without making the film a class A sleazy piece of trash, rather making it very realistic drama.





    I made some interesting comparisons between New Jack City to many TV crime thrillers like The Shield, NYPD Blue or others, and you do get the distinct feeling you watching a TV show.... but if you dig these kind of movies, you lose track of time and watch it right through to the very unexpected ending.... where at one point this is the end of the movie, BANG, and a more interesting and, dare I say it, a more justified conclusion.



    This is a pretty cool movie... dont be fooled by the music, which kinda falsley makes you think its more of a drama on the lines of Boyz N Da Hood, its much more different, its Cops vs Bad Guys, and who knows who will win this one.
  • shiftyeyeddog
    April 8, 2008
    shiftyeyeddog
    I really think Mario Van Peebles thought he was making the new Godfather. But he was delusional. The acting is laughable, the direction amateurish at best, the casting horrible... and accurate to the time period or not, the worst hairstyles of any movie I've ever seen.
    ... read moreThat's really all I'm gonna bother to say aout this flick.
  • Chiefilms
    March 1, 2008
    Chiefilms
    I don't think Wesley was acting, just doing his dayjob.
  • tsigur
    December 11, 2007
    tsigur
    Wesley Snipes is the real Frank Lucas.
  • hoganshero
    September 4, 2007
    hoganshero
    A crazy dark look at a drug dealing psychopath and the lives that life destroys! Byfar one of Snipes' best roles.
  • Deano78
    June 15, 2007
    Deano78
    Not a bad action film as tough cop takes on tough gangster. Quite violent, plenty of action if lousy dress sense!
  • adammahler1
    June 6, 2007
    adammahler1
    great B-movie thanks to the script and cinematographer Francis Kenny, bad actors give good-enough performances, Snipes gives a great one

View All New Jack City Reviews

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones
October 30, 2007
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Though this often plays like a 70s cop show, it became a prototype for the bling-heavy gangsta melodramas of the 90s. Full Review

Variety Staff
October 30, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

Filmmakers pull off a provocative, pulsating update on gangster pics with this action-laden epic about the rise and fall of an inner city crack dealer. Full Review

Roger Ebert
August 5, 2005
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The movie was advertised (no doubt wisely) as a slam-bang action adventure, but in fact it's a serious, smart film with an impact that lingers after the lights go up. Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

The film's use of once-imposing, now-crumbling New York architecture is particularly effective in underscoring the story with an air of widespread urban decay. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Mario Van Peebles's drugland feature, a relentless, hold-on-to-your-hat experience, rarely lets up. Full Review

Hal Hinson
January 1, 2000
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

Van Peebles wanted to tell this story; his heart is in it, and it's got a killer beat. Full Review

Steve Crum
February 23, 2008
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

OK Van Peebles flick featuring Snipes.

October 30, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

We all know New Jack City is making the right statement on drugs, racism, the system, etc. But the fact is it's not very good. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
September 16, 2006
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

A cynical director, Van Peebles has style to burn, but his work is too flashy to make sense. This is a gangster-thriller about crack trade in Hralem done as a moralistic melodrama with kinky violence. Full Review

Geoff Andrew
January 26, 2006
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

It's a superior example of what used to be called blaxploitation, with Van Peebles piling on corruption and carnage for all he's worth. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Nino Brown: [Referring to his girlfriend] Cancel that bitch, I'll buy another one.
    • Nino Brown: Sit your five-dollar ass down before I make change.
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New Jack City Trivia

  • i) _______ Black ii) _______ Nicholson iii) Jumpin _______ Flash iv) _______ v) _______ Frost vi) Lightning _______ vii) New _______ City viii) Kangaroo _______ ix) _______ and Sarah x) _______ Clayton xi) _______ The Bear What goes in all the blanks?  Answer »
  • In "New Jack City" did Nino Brown appear in the water in one clip and on a plastic floater right afterwards?   Answer »
  • This actor/actress was in: New Jack City U.S. Marshalls Undisputed One Night Stand White Men Can't Jump  Answer »
  • What is the name of the Nightclub that NiNo Brown and The CMB frequents in New Jack City?  Answer »
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