GANG IN BLUE may be a well-intentioned film, but in its search for dramatic tension it eliminates shades of gray and paints the complex issues of racism literally in black-and-white terms. It simplifies and demonizes until it succumbs to the crime it purports to oppose: racial
insensitivity.
The Phantoms are a gang of white cops, led by Officer "Moose" Tavola (Stephen Lang), who abuses its by brutalizing minorities. But their campaign of covert racism is challenged by two African-Americans: fellow cop Michael Rhoades (Mario Van Peebles) and his mentor, Andre (Melvin Van Peebles). When
Rhoades brings evidence of the vigilantes' activities to the FBI--in the person of his old flame, Agent Anita Bayard (Cynda Williams)--he's ignored. But when he survives an ambush that backfires and kills his racist partner, Beckstrom (Zach Grenier), he draws plenty of attention from the enraged
rogue cops--who make him their number one target. The situation seems to worsen when Rhoades new partner, DeBruder (Josh Brolin), allies himself with the Phantoms. But when Rhoades discovers that DeBruder is an FBI agent working undercover for Anita, the two join forces to bring down the
vigilantes. Predictably, DeBruder's cover is blown, forcing him and Rhoades into a climactic shootout with the Phantoms, all of whom our heroes succeed in gunning down--including the gang's true ringleader, Lt. Eyler (J.T. Walsh).
GANG IN BLUE's good and evil roles are clearly defined: with the single exception of Brolin's undercover FBI agent, the white cops are all epithet-spewing racist monsters, while the black cops and FBI agents are ultra-noble do-gooders. Even an indisputably criminal character--a cop killer--is
portrayed in the film's rigidly delineated "us against them" terms as a victim of the racist vigilantes, rather than a villain. Consequently, the film's explanation of the Phantoms origins--a group of cops avenging a fellow officer's murder and then losing control of their righteous rage--becomes
a lost opportunity to explore the complex issues of misguided honor, bigotry, and abuse of power. Instead, the writers have opted for a simplistic tale of white hats vs. black hats (albeit one in which the traditional roles of those colors are reversed).
Father and son Melvin and Mario Van Peebles smoothly blend their co-direction into a mostly well-paced and effectively photographed film, but clumsy editing renders the final shoot-out sequence a confusing muddle. On screen, as the wise elder, an underplaying Melvin yields the limelight to Mario's
self-conscious posturing as the bigger-than-life, jut-jawed "lone good guy" facing down the corrupt minions of The Man. Likewise, Williams has little room to make her FBI woman anything but a stereotypical straight-shooter. As for the villains, veteran Walsh simply adds another oily honcho to his
resume, while Lang alone--as the gleeful hate-monger Moose--stands out in the mob of otherwise interchangeable vigilante goons.
Originally produced for the Showtime cable channel, GANG IN BLUE fails to achieve the subtlety and complexity routinely displayed in any of the better recent, prime-time, network police dramas. (Violence, sexual situations, extreme profanity, adult situations.) leave a comment