Jason Gedrick lives in an empty water tower on top of an abandoned building in New York City. He earns a living (a pretty meager one I would imagine) stealing plumbing from empty buildings and selling it. For fun he hangs out at block parties and ... dance fights??? It's difficult to explain, but it's like capoeira but is not capoeira (more on this later).
He meets Troy Byer at a night of dance fighting and they fall for each other pretty immediately ... even though she's best friends with his ex Tisha Campbell, something the movie glides by pretty callously. All seems good until drug dealer Eddie Velez starts doing business in Gedrick's building and kicks him out on the street. Byer turns out to be Velez's cousin and she works for him as a lookout.
I don't need to tell you much more because you know how this plays out. The conflict with Velez will escalate until someone close to Gedrick dies (young graffiti artist Alexis Cruz) and Gedrick has to take them on. You know Byer will be forced to pick sides, and you know what side she will pick. You know who'll win.
This is a pretty B formula. All you need is a hook, and that seems to be dance fighting, only it's ultimately not. Gedrick learns about capoeira, so you figure he'll learn it and use it to defeat Velez, only he doesn't. It doesn't really figure in the plot at all. I guess the hook is that everyone in the film lives in ramshackle rooftop homes. That's something.
This is Robert Wise's last theatrical feature and it has a terrible reputation. I'm here to tell you ... it's pretty good actually. It's a cheap late 80's B action flick, and I've seen a lot of those. This one is okay. This film is better than most of the films Wise directed in the 1970's.
People tend to call this a "take" on "West Side Story". It's not ... it has absolutely nothing to with "West Side Story". No street gangs. No songs. No "Romeo & Juliet" narrative. Not a damn thing to do with it.
He meets Troy Byer at a night of dance fighting and they fall for each other pretty immediately ... even though she's best friends with his ex Tisha Campbell, something the movie glides by pretty callously. All seems good until drug dealer Eddie Velez starts doing business in Gedrick's building and kicks him out on the street. Byer turns out to be Velez's cousin and she works for him as a lookout.
I don't need to tell you much more because you know how this plays out. The conflict with Velez will escalate until someone close to Gedrick dies (young graffiti artist Alexis Cruz) and Gedrick has to take them on. You know Byer will be forced to pick sides, and you know what side she will pick. You know who'll win.
This is a pretty B formula. All you need is a hook, and that seems to be dance fighting, only it's ultimately not. Gedrick learns about capoeira, so you figure he'll learn it and use it to defeat Velez, only he doesn't. It doesn't really figure in the plot at all. I guess the hook is that everyone in the film lives in ramshackle rooftop homes. That's something.
This is Robert Wise's last theatrical feature and it has a terrible reputation. I'm here to tell you ... it's pretty good actually. It's a cheap late 80's B action flick, and I've seen a lot of those. This one is okay. This film is better than most of the films Wise directed in the 1970's.
People tend to call this a "take" on "West Side Story". It's not ... it has absolutely nothing to with "West Side Story". No street gangs. No songs. No "Romeo & Juliet" narrative. Not a damn thing to do with it.