Cut Throat City
RZA has finally struck gold with his third outing behind the director's chair, after The Man with the Iron Fists and Love, Beats, Rhymes, with the politically charged and well-executed thriller Cut Throat City.
Continuing from the intimate details of life and the harsh reality it entails found in Love, Beats, Rhymes and leaving the vastly grandiose and grind-house approach in The Man with the Iron Fists behind, RZA not only shows confidence and maturity behind the camera but his voice is now loud enough to be heard. On the surface, Cut Throat City is a quintessential and somewhat conventional tale looking at four characters who go on a robbing spree. Yet, how RZA injects a more compelling and poignant subversion to this tale with the real-life, haunting social and financial immolation due to Hurricane Katrina, is not only a breath of fresh air but elevates the traditional material ten-fold.
This not just a simplistic story of greed or lust but, with its subverted storytelling, the feature forms a far richer and engaging attitude on survival and freedom from screenwriter Paul Cuschieri. Cuschieri writes an engaging and impressive multifaceted tale, specifically being black and poor in mid-2000s America amidst racial oppression brewing in the shadows. RZA puts forward a compelling story, nevertheless, but said narrative is cemented undoubtedly by the performances from the likes of Shameik Moore, of which the film, for the most part, rests solely on his shoulders to carry. Rising star Moore does a wonderful job of evoking emotional and internal terror through visualisation and not relying on Cuschieri's screenplay at all times.
Granted, Demetrius Shipp Jr. and Eiza González are undoubtedly integral with their respective arcs and performances. Yet, respectively, both characters have little impact and central storylines that change the course of the film. González, in particular, has nothing to do aside from appearing on occasion with a third party storyline that little comes from.
On the topic of excess, there are still layers of unneeded surplus material that ultimately over substantiate Cut Throat City's point and undertones. The need to overindulge in subplots of political fraud, with a forced and ultimately redundant performance from Ethan Hawke, adds little to an already overcrowded brewing pot. Cameos from both Terrence Howard and Wesley Snipes also do little to substantiate the already conscious and engaging material. The former, particularly, is best described as an utter waste and seems to be in place to reinforce a last-minute kingpin character who without, the course of the film isn't altered.
The extra material, in the end, all adds up to a one hundred and thirty minute running time that easily could have had a more concise edit and focused story with further supplanted discourse with more robust results. Compared to RZA's previous exploits, Cut Throat City is a far more restraint and charged drama with decent performances. However, it is ultimately led astray by an overly excessiveness regarding running time, characters and narrative that overcomplicates and doubles down on themes that RZA perfectly examines in moments of restraint.
