Above the Rim (1994)

Boring

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Very clichéd and dated gangster/basketball flick set in NY as a young black teen tries to get a basketball scholarship whilst battling against a local thug and his former basketball star brother who is now a security guard at their high school.Everyone in this film is a walking cliché. Shakur is yet another gangster (he couldn't do anything else...useless), Wayans is annoying and camp as usual, Duane Martin is the annoying loud mouth cocky star player and Leon is the quiet dark horse and probably the best thing in the film. Basically you have all the usual gangster nonsense with all the hilariously bad street clothes worn by Shakur and co. Lots of foul language dodgy deals guns drugs and various adults trying to get these dumb asses to grow up and get a life. Looking back now this movie does seem extremely predictable cheesy and stereotypical, hell the movie is virtually racially profiling these guys from the outset. Thing is back in the day these movies were popular and deemed fresh gritty realistic stories from the hood, showing the middle/rich classes life on the street and how blacks youths were badly treated. To me these movies only tended to damage minority groups, giving young blacks a bad reputation. Sure its only a movie but there were so many like this back in the 90's and most revolved around crime drugs and shootings. But hey that's just my thoughts, maybe I'm a bit out of touch too.The only decent thing in the whole film is the small segments of basketball and the competition at the finale which does show some good genuine skills. Only at the end does this movie really come alive...and it reminded me a little of 'White Men Can't Jump' minus the goofy comedy.4/10

Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) is the star basketball player at his high school, but his overly developed ego limits him from reaching his full potential. However via trials and tribulations he slowly starts finding the right path, in some part thanks to an unwilling mentor in the form of the school security guard Shep (Leon), who used to be NBA material, until one day tragically (and unintentionally comically) his best friend plummets to his death after trying to dunk. His brother on the other hand is local badboy Birdie (Tupac Shakur), who took to crime after Shep bailed out on the family.Despite B-movie credentials the presence of Tupac Shakur seems to have torpedoed the popularity of "Above the Rim". The story however remains derivative throughout, whilst the secondary plot is more than a tad schmaltzy, thrown in for good measure to introduce a father figure for Kyle. In addition to that the director Jeff Pollack goes extremely by the book, avoiding any turns or twists. Keeping it simple doesn't however work, as the resulting story is plot-thin and scarce of emotion. Once it gets to the ultimate and predictable show-down no connection has really been created between the viewers and the characters, hence no real enjoyment in watching this purposeless flick.Some key scenes are plain funny, unwillingly drawing a smirk to your face, while certain situations are blunderingly solved with disregard to logic and reason.

Kind of low ratings, this movie should never be rated, even by hater below 6. I think is around 8 or 9 though. Is a street movie, integrated with the hoop dreams of high-school phenom. The story line is dope, has some real entertaining characters. Am not going to write out the whole plot, watch the movie.Probably one of my favorite sport movies, with Any Given Sunday. You get some real elements. Kyle Watson the high-school phenom, gets caught up by the elements of streets. Pac, in the movie plays the main bad guy in the movie Birdie, a very manipulative character, with a very dark side, dude slashes a bum to death with a razor from this tongue, played by Bernie Mac, for talking smack about him. LOL. Anyhow everything collides when Kyle decides not to play along Birdie in the tournament, and things get hectic. The hoops in the movie is raw, some real ballers, not some white men old man that can't even ball, and disgraces the game of basketball. Hoop fans would love it, people that love street movies will love it. Very entertaining characters to add.

This has to be one of my favourite films of all time,2pac,Marlon Wayans,Duane Martin show their acting ability's in this film and would recommend it to any one that is a fan of Pac, Marlon,Duane and basket ball or just wants to watch a real good movie. I can watch this 5 times in one day and it will still be as good as the first time i ever saw it.its a comedy/drama some serious and funny moments in this movie and is good from start to finish,it keeps you thinking and unpredictable to what might happen next and thats how good it is...the movie is about a teenager who can have a basket ball scholarship to collage but ends up throwing' it all away for money cars,and woman promised by birdy(2pac) a gangster leader but it ends it bad results.the soundtrack is as good as the movie i recommend you buy it,You can purchase it on ebay or most music stores in city's..recommend it 100% !!!!!!