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Waist Deep
R2 - United Kingdom - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Stevie McCleary & Sam Scott (28th April 2007). |
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The Film
 When I heard that Vondie Curtis-Hall -the director of "Glitter" (2001) -had made a film called "Waist Deep", I began having horrid ideas of Mariah Carey in some badly acted sexcapade. The good news is, I couldn't have been further from the truth. The bad news is, I still had to watch "Waist Deep". The plot is simple: The main character, an ex-con played by Tyrese Gibson, has his son kidnapped, so he's gotta get the cash together to pay off an old rival (The Game) to get him back. He does this by robbing banks and squatting in someone else's home. Along the way he deals with his useless cousin (Larenz Tate) and a hustler he picks off the street that he eventually falls for (Meagan Good). Let's call a spade a spade. This movie is not very exciting. It is not very good. The most interesting part of the movie for me was the character's names. Gibson's character is called O2. Not that they really ever call him that because after they explain it, even the characters seem to realize how dumb it is. See, he used to disappear and move so fast when doing…stuff…that he was called Oxygen. Then, he got even better. So they doubled it. O2. Yup. He even calls his son (Henry Hunter Hall) Junior. Whether that's Oxygen Junior or O2 Junior, we don't know. His cousin's name is Lucky, which makes sense. He should have forgotten to stop breathing by now, he's so dumb. And beautifully, his deadly rival is called Meat. I think I saw him eating meat at one point, I dunno. The plot is just so interesting due to it being so bizarre. O2 is a security guard who needs to pick up his son from school and so he ditches work. But he takes the gun with him…so nobody else takes it. Or something to that effect. He tells everyone that he was going to take it back right after grabbing Junior because he has two strikes against him. One more conviction and it's off to jail, regardless of the level of the crime. Of course, he explains this soon after he shoots dead two men in broad daylight…with his gun. Yes, because the cops will never be able to match up the bullets to an ex-con's security gun. And that's another thing. He claims he has that job because it's an "ex-con rehabilitation programme." Because when I think "perfect job for ex-cons", I think "armed security guard." Naturally, when he bypasses the security code when they break into a nice home to stay in, he says they taught him that in guard training. And we wonder why America is so troubled. The rest of the story fumbles along. The director uses many dark shots and confusing choices for transitions, along with jarring cuts for flashbacks. In the final gunfight it is impossible to work out what is happening, or who is being shot, due to the closeness of the camera and blurry filming. You get the feeling that he has a basic idea about filmmaking and makes it up from there. While this is not a terrible movie, it's also not very good. It looks impressive enough at times, with good production values, but no real depth given to anything that happens. Not one of the characters was endearing to me. The only real enjoyment I got from this film was waiting to see whether they squeeze the title of the film anywhere. They do, fifteen minutes before the end. The worst part of the film was the intrusive rap music in-between each scene change. Each one ran for far too long, obviously trying to get the most out of the lyrics of the songs. Watch this film only if really bored. You'll be asleep in no time.
Video
Universal have presented Waist Deep in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and as should be expected from such a recent film, it is nothing short of excellent. There is no edge enhanceent, no grain or any other damage. No complaints.
Audio
Universal have given us the choice of watching the film in three languages: English (original), French or German. All three tracks are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and (the English track at least) is pretty darn good. The film has a lot of use for the surrounds, such as gunfire and tyres screeching so it is good to see that Universal has certainly made full use of them with the LFE also getting a good workout. DTS track would've been a nice addition, but I have no real complaints. Subtitles are available for the film in Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Turkish.
Extras
None, which is a shame considering the American release (also from Universal) got a nice selection.
Overall
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