By Shelby J. Jones
A
Film From Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
|
Written
and Directed by: |
Craig
Bolotin |
Produced
by: |
Tracey
E. Edmonds & Babyface |
Co-Producer: |
Helena
Echegoyen |
Cast: |
Usher
Raymond, Forest Whitaker, Vanessa L. Williams, Glen Turman, Rosario
Dawson, Robert Ri'chard, Clifton Collins, Jr., Fredro Starr, Sara
Gilbert |
Light It Up - no, it's not about firing
up a cigarette, stogie or other flammables.
Quite frankly, I still don't
get
the title. Light It Up is the new star vehicle for teenage singing
sensation Usher Raymond. Hollywood has always
provided talented musicians with access to
the silver screen - Elvis, Sinatra, Vanessa, Whitney, hell, even DMX and
Nas jumped on the screen this year. I am making a plea for them to stop
- or at least slow it down a bit. I enjoyed Belly with Nas and DMX and
of course I cannot discount the enormous film talent bestowed upon us
by Ice Cube, Vanessa Williams, LL Cool J and others who have made that
transition. My gripe is that a lot of trained actors are being left in
the dust because film executives too often make casting choices based
on a proven artists track record, in this case, from album sales. What
if Big Daddy Kane or Kwame had been cast in a role that Wesley Snipes
was up for? Usher may be able to sway the women but watching him for almost
two hours on screen was tough. I am certain the filmmakers anticipated
young adult male fans like myself, so they installed a preventive measure
- they added Vanessa Williams - voila, better
film immediately.
SYNOPSIS
Light It Up is a story about
a group of Queens (New York) high school students that hold a policeman
hostage after a boiler effect altercation between the principal, a well-loved
teacher and the cop. The teacher is suddenly suspended from the school.
Reminiscent of
The Breakfast Club (NY
hood style that is), the filmmakers cast in the role of the loved schoolteacher
none other than the rebel loser teenager from The Breakfast Club, Judd
Nelson. One good thing about this film is the students are not gang-bangin
thugs (except for one) but rather they want better books, better school
maintenance and the best teachers to be at their school. They want a
better life for their school days. Of course downtown has something
to say about that and whether or not they release their hostage, Forest
Whitaker, is more than prevalent. When the film first started, I thought,
"oh my God," another urban high school flick with minorities being portrayed
as thugs and hoods rather than school children. Much to my surprise,
these students were at least positive.
THESPIANS
Usher Raymond
drives the women crazy on CD,
on the stage and on video but on the silver
screen,
I didn't buy his performance. It seemed
like he
was working too hard to accomplish his
mission as the lead. To be fair, his portrayal was not as bad some 50,000
other performances I have seen but this
was not his best. Much credit to the casting
folks for giving roles to Forest Whitaker and
Vanessa L. Williams who both
performed well. Whitaker plays the NYPD
cop who is being held by Usher and his crew. Vanessa is the negotiator
for NYPD and her tense character has to
try and prevent the
NYPD from getting medieval on the students.
Usher is backed up by Rosario Dawson (cutie
from He Got Game fellas), Robert
Ri'chard, Clifton Collins,
Jr., Fredro Starr and Sara Gilbert.
CRITIQUE
Light
It Up will do well with teenage audiences and it should. But with
young adult audience and cinema savvy moviegoers, this film won't be
seen until it hits the video store or DVD. I am certain that the filmmakers
assumed this when they had the high concept, wrote the story and chose
the cast. So it may be a winner in their eyes. I will say
this - if The Best Man is sold out, see this, you might enjoy
it. If you can't see the film, YAB-YUM records did a fine job with the
soundtrack - N Sync, DMX, Master P featuring The No Limit All Stars,
Ja Rule, 112, OutKast featuring Slimm Cutta-Calhoun, Jack Herrera, Jon
B., Amil & Solé, AZ & Beanie Sigel, Blaze and Firestarr (Fredro Starr),
BEVERLY, and Shya. When its all said and done, Light It Up didn't
light it up but it did provide a tiny spark.
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