187 (2000, DVD)

Released in 1997, 187 in my mind has been unfairly slept on. Many critics panned it upon its release, and even on epinions, many have given it a lower rating than it deserves. (No disses aimed to those who did downrate 187 by the way, it is your epinion and thought on the film and I respect that. I am just merely disagreeing). Anyway

187 is the emotional, and hard hitting tale of a teachers desire to teach, cruelly stripped away by vicious high students. Samuel L Jackson (Jurassic Park, Pulp fiction etc) stars as idealistic teacher Trevor Garfield, a man with an intense passion for learning and teaching. Originally teaching in Brooklyn, Garfield soon moves away to L.A after being viciously stabbing multiple times by a student / gangster he flunks in his science class. (Played by rapper Method Man. Hence the hip hop connection) After laying low after the stabbing, Garfield is soon called upon to cover for a class in a ran down district. Now being a dedicated guy, passionate about his work. Garfield goes into the school hoping to be able to do his job. Obviously he thought wrong

Ran by crooked politicians, the school is basically one big mess. Students decide which classes they go to and when. And many teachers are even so intimidated; a gun is needed for their own safety. And unfortunately for Garfield, he is thrown straight into the worst area of the school. The area where the K.O.S (Kapping off suckas) run supreme. And they don t like Garfield one bit

Played brilliantly by Samuel L Jackson, Garfield is a very interesting character to watch unfold. Now granted. I did find the fact that Garfield decided to go all Rambo on are a*ses towards the end of the movie was a tad unbelievable. But watching Garfield for the first hour or so, is watching Samuel L Jackson at his best. He makes you feel emotional, he makes you feel happy, and he also makes you feel desperately sorry for him as the students ignore he s plea to teach. Now, eventually during the course of the movie, Garfield begins to tire of his trouble making K.O.S enemies. And in a rather weird twist of events, decides to take justice in too his own hands. Killing one student, and basically f*cking up another. Now obviously, this little blunder catches up with Garfield, and what occurs at the end is what I suppose you would class as a little ludicrous. Now I won t reveal what actually happens, but if you ve ever seen the Deer Hunter, you re already have a pretty good ideal of what occurs

Now, to be quite honest with you. The thing that REALLY shocked me most about 187 had nothing to do with the plot, performances or any of that. It s the fact that it s actually been watered down for the movies. Yup, it shocked the hell out of me. But in certain areas of America, violence is as common in the classroom as a pen and piece of paper. Now don t get me wrong, I go (or use to, I left June) to your normal public school. And the odd moment of violence and angry outbursts is pretty normal. But compared to 187, I use to go f*cking Oxford. Anyway

When first reading about 187, I have to admit I had my doubts. And one of the main reasons behind this is director Kevin Reyonds past CV. To sum up what had me so scared, takes only two words. Water. World. Yup, anybody who s had the misfortunate of seeing this disaster of a movie will know what I m talking about. Therefore I think you can understand my doubts. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice offering here, and Reyonds actually shows signs of being able to direct a movie. Using some nice camera angles, a blue filter to separate the past, and occasionally going into a nicely shot home video type concept, when Garfield places security cameras in his classroom. Reyonds keeps the fancy camera angles to a bare minimum, keeping the films raw, and gritty feeling intact. So, with my teeth tightly clenched, I have to praise Reyonds here, and on rating of 5 stars. I d give his direction about 4. Maybe 4.5 if I was feeling generous. Anyway, moving onto the cast

Now as you know by now, Samuel L Jackson is the main star here. And as I ve already mentioned earlier, he gives an Oscar winning performance. But, a leading role always needs support no matter how big or great they are, and fortunately Reyonds has cast some lesser known, yet talented support acts here. First up is Kelly Rowan, who plays Garfield s love interest Ellen. Now granted, the love storyline between the two never really goes anywhere, and the character of Ellen is not really essential to the storyline at all, but Rowan still gives what I would call as an acclaimed performance. Second up is veteran John Heard, who plays gun totting teacher Dave. Now heard gives a nice, half human half crazy performance here, and pulls of his I don t give a f*ck about the students attitude perfectly. And the only (personal) con I hold against him, is the fact that throughout the movie I just couldn t get him out of my head as the stupid dumba*s father in kiddie movie Home Alone. But, the real star of the supporting line up here has got to be awarded to newbie Clifton Gonzalez, who plays Garfield s most troublesome enemy Cesar, leader of the latino based K.O.S. Displaying a sense of anger, and resentfulness perfectly. Gonzalez is prefect for the part of Cesar, and his performance is so raw, it s hard not to get drawn into the realness of his performance.

But

Like every movie a couple cons are apparent, and in 187 s case they are rather minor, easily fixed ones. The first con I came across is one I have already mentioned, and that is the OTT ending. Now, to be honest with you, the ending isn t really that bad, it s just, well, not believable in the slightest bit, which may make it hard for huge movie buffs to swallow. But asides from that, the ending is pretty entertaining. And while it does seem kinda depressing, it does leave a message buried deep inside your head.

The second con is another I have mentioned, and that is the part of the movie when Garfield decides to go all Rambo on or a*ses. Now get me wrong, this is are very important, and entertaining part of the movie. The con I have, however with this section is its weak build up. This is because towards the beginning of the movie, Garfield is displayed as a clean cut, skilled, smart, committed teacher. The complete package if you will. And too suddenly to see him take justice into his owns hand so radically and quickly, is pretty unbelievable, yet entertaining at the same time. A minor con that could have been improved, if Reyonds had added a few more scenes displaying Garfield snapping and slowly changing his character.

And finally, the third and last of my cons section, is one many may seem stupid and pointless. But me myself, I think it would have been a nice inclusion. Now, at the beginning of the movie Garfield is brutally stabbed by a student he flunked, who happens to be played by no other then hip hop superstar Method Man. Now the con I have is that Method is only in the movie for, erm, say about 15 seconds at the most. And I would have liked to see a bit more depth added to his character. Now, I m not saying the whole movie should have been changed just so Method could have more screen time. No way. I m just say, an extra ten, fifteen minutes would have been nice, so we could have seen the events surrounding Garfield s stabbing in more detail. But, hey you can t have everything can you

THE CONCLUSION:

In conclusion I am going to award 187 5 stars. Now, I now, many movie buffs may be shaking their hands at their monitors in disgust at the moment, but what you have to remember is that I love these type of movies. And 187 displays all the type of qualities I look for in a movie. Great performances / cast, great storyline, and a banging, hip hop dominated soundtrack. Check this gem out immediately.

If you enjoy 187 I recommend these movies:

Boyz n the hood:
The first entry in my hip hop movies series, make sure you check this out. It s a classic.

Menace II Society:
The greatest film of all time. Menace II Society is a classic, and is should be next entry in my hip hop movie series. Should have it posted in a week or so.

8 Mile:
A TRUE hip hop movie. I won t even bother going into details now, cause I know EVERYBODY seen this movie by now.

New Jack City:
Ice T dominates this movie, and is one of the greatest gangsta movies all time. Review coming very soon

Thanks for reading. And it would be great to know what you thought of my review or the movie in general. I would especially like to hear from my usual music review readers. Leave a comment if you can PLEASE! :)