R | 1h 36m | Drama, Heist | Aug. 30, 2024
“1992,” which takes place in Los Angeles on the Rodney King riot day (April of the titular year) is a heist movie featuring two sets of father-son relationships. The film’s strictly B-movie fare; it’s a bit of a shame that this was the late, great Ray Liotta’s last movie.
What Happens
Sullen, incommunicative son Antoine Bey (Christopher Ammanuel) has come to live with dad Mercer Bey (rapper and actor Tyrese Gibson, best known from the “Fast and Furious” franchise).Antoine is highly resentful of his dad’s long prison term-related absence, and, feeling no sense of family, exudes a nonstop rebellious attitude. Dad, however, is a former gangbanger of great notoriety within the surrounding LA gangland environment. He'll brook no insubordination.
A high-risk operation, Lowell at first wants no part of it. But this being Rodney King day, when violence and looting erupt in the LA streets due to the verdict, Lowell realizes the LAPD will have their hands too full to pay attention to a break-in in a more remote area.
They summon the usual suspects; their heist crew, which also includes Riggin’s younger brother Dennis (Dylan Arnold), muscle-plus-getaway driver Titus (former UFC star Oleg Taktarov), and two other guys. Off they go to commit a crime.
Meanwhile, Mercer is out looking for Antoine among the arson and looting chaos. At one point he faces down a young thug who puts a gun to his head and asks him how it feels. “Familiar” is the ice-cold, unexpected, and unsettling answer. The little gang-banger’s shot-caller snatches the young fool away saying words to the effect of: “Do you know who that is? That’s O.G. Mercer—you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him!” Mercer eventually ends up looking for his son at his job.
All in All
Strong point: Tyrese Gibson in a dramatic role. He’s got the comedic chops we all know from the “Fast and Furious” movies, but drama suits him better. He wears it well, like the industrial-strength factory onesie he wears throughout “1992.”Weak point: Scott Eastwood playing yet another heavy. For reasons I don’t yet understand, Hollywood has slapped this heavy label on him regardless of the fact that he doesn’t have near enough gravitas for this sort of thing. Heck, even his iconic dad Clint never had the weight or inner meanness to be a seriously heavy bad guy. However, as a more savvy actor, he was always able to offset that deficiency with humor.
The Rodney King riots, a notable piece of 1990s’ American history, are used basically a facile gimmick to imbue this otherwise entirely unremarkable heist flick with an unearned sense of importance. It sheds no light on the titular turmoil.
The fact that Lowell is a white bad guy and a terrible dad, and Mercer is a black, reformed bad guy, and now a good dad, seems to be as far as “1992” goes in terms of trying to make some kind of statement. Are these two meant to metaphorically represent the police and the rioters? Probably.
The movie might have been a tad more interesting had it bequeathed us a news update regarding the unspoken question hanging over the whole film: “Can we all get along?” It would have been nice to see “1992” comment on the fact that, 32 years later, America no longer really has a black-white problem. Instead, it’s got a virulent liberal-conservative problem. Can we all get along in 2024? So far, it’s not looking too good.
