# Light It Up (1999)

### reviewed by
Rose 'Bams' Cooper

    '3 Black Chicks Review...'

Light It Up (1999) Rated R; running time 100 minutes Genre: Drama IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0172726 Official site: http://www.foxmovies.com/lightitupcs.html Written by: Craig Bolotin Directed by: Craig Bolotin Starring: Usher Raymond, Rosario Dawson, Robert Ri'chard, Fredro Starr, Forest Whitaker, Vanessa L. Williams, Sara Gilbert, Clifton Collins, Judd Nelson, Glynn Turman

Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 1999 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamslightup.html

High school was the most hellish part of my childhood; I was truly lucky to leave it alive and mentally intact. So when I saw the trailers for "Light It Up", I could identify with some of the stuff happening. On the other hand, as a mother of a 17-year-old high school senior, I could also Feel the situation from the adult's point of view. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The Story (WARNING: some spoilers contained below): "Light It Up" takes place in Lincoln High School, a run-down mess of a school in the inner-city; many of its windows are broken or completely gone ("It's so cold in here," one of the students says, "you can see the sentences!"), water drips from the nasty ceilings, and the rooms are so overcrowded that some of the students have to stand along the wallspace. The movie tells the story of six students--Rodney (Starr), a thug at the exterior that may have more going for him on the inside than he lets on; Rivers (Collins), a quick-witted hustler with a heart; Lynn (Gilbert), a loner who gets some bad news early on; Stephanie (Dawson), an honor student who is seen as uppity because she's trying to get out of "the hood"; and Ziggy (Ri'chard), a sensitive artist and narrator of the story, who, along with his friend Lester (Raymond), sets off a confrontation with the authority figures at Lincoln. These include Principal Armstrong (Turman), who's overworked, underpaid, and too busy to hear about the deplorable classroom conditions the students and teachers--especially Mr. Knowles (Nelson)--have to work in; and school cop Officer Jackson (Whitaker), "a $5 cop with a $50 attitude". Things come to a head after Jackson is accidently shot and the students (tagged the "Lincoln 6" by the media) take matters into their own hands.

The Upshot: For reasons that I'll speak on in detail in "The Black Factor", I wanted very much to like "Light It Up". I battled with myself between giving it a green- or yellow-light rating, even though the writing was second-rate, the subplots were thin, the execution was sloppy, and the excess baggage--namely, Williams as Audrey The Negotiator--wasn't trimmed more. Edit the movie a bit and you'd have the makings of a good Afterschool Special, or better yet, an HBO movie.

But this flick had its heart in the right place. There was enough of a balance of decent actors across the age spectrum (though truth to tell, except for Raymond and Ri'chard, the "kids" looked a wee bit long in the tooth) that it seemed neither a teen flick, nor an overly preachy morality play (not too preachy, anyway, though it did try to work that nerve). Usher (who, as a Urban Contemporary singer, really needs to keep his shirt on more) and Fredo (a rap artist in his other life) were surprisingly good, though one-dimensional; the rest of the cast amiably went through their paces to the mildly-surprising ending.

My biggest problem with this movie is that, like the kids, it didn't have any real depth of focus; it didn't know what it wanted to Say. Besides the main Issue that struck me right where I live, its under-use of any of the adults (other than Jackson; my jury is still out on Whittaker's portrayal, though it's nice to see him as something besides the perennial "good guy" lately), and inexplicable addition of Williams, put the onus on Usher et al to carry the load. Unfortunately, with the script they were given to work with, they weren't up to the task. More soapy than authentic, it managed to strum the violin strings without adding the rest of the band to provide a complete orchestration.

It's funny; not long after I watched this movie, I came home to find "The Negotiator" on HBO; starring Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey, that movie ran circles around "Light It Up" in telling its hostage story (though I have Issues with how both movies resolved the hostage situation; so as to not spoil it, I'll post a message addressing these Issues on the 3BC "Viewer Voices" webboard for further discussion). Would that "Light It Up" writer/director Bolotin had taken better Cliff's Notes from "The Negotiator"; it might've gotten the respect that Rodney said the students wanted.

The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith] As a Black woman, I see the "Black Factor"--things that affect me as a "consumer of color"--in many aspects of life; movies included. Whether from the standpoint of noting Black (and other "minority") cast and crew members (if any), to the (lack of) focus toward "people of color" (dag, I hate that term), to the out-and-out antagonistic attitude toward Us (Jar-Jar, anyone?), the "Black Factor" (BF) is something that plays as much a role in my film enjoyment as any other aspect of the movie itself.

This one's more a "Inner-City Factor" than just a "Black Factor": I'm oft heard to remark that today's younger generation is, in a way, soft--specifically, the kids who are wannabe thugs by day, but come home to a warm meal, an allowance, and heck, a house, for that matter. MOST children of working- and middle-class parents have been raised in a time when they always knew what a Nintendo is; when their gym shoes (and I'm aging myself by calling them gym shoes) often cost more than all the rest of the clothes on their bodies; when they didn't have to use wire pliers as a makeshift tuner for their (black and white) TV; when they didn't have to depend on condiments to fill their stomachs when mama's cabinet was bare--which was most of the time [all y'all former Sugar or Mayonnaise Sandwich eaters, can I get an Amen?]

But on that ubiquitous Other Hand...not all kids--and let's be real here--Black and Latino kids--are thuggish gangbangers, trashing everything in their path (human and inanimate) just for the hell of it. Most of them, from what I've seen, are just like we were: confused, trying to make their way in life the best they can, wanting a good life, and given guidance by authority figures that give a damn, willing to work for it. And unlike us, they have to deal with the true bangers on a daily basis, as well as a society that, like Jackson and Armstrong, has already made its mind up about them before they even had a chance to prove otherwise.

    All I know is, I wouldn't be a kid again if you paid me.

Bammer's Bottom Line: Though "Light It Up" loses ratings points for being thick with plot holes and soap-opera cliches, this reviewer Heard what they were saying about how we all need to take the time to listen to each other--students and teachers, parents and children alike. If nothing else, it provided a bit of good after-movie conversation between my husband, my son, and myself. Can't beat that with a stick, eh?

"Light It Up" (rating: yellowlight) "The Negotiator" could teach "Light It Up" a thing or three about how to script a hostage movie; but if you're willing to listen, "Light It Up" could teach you a thing or three about today's youth.

    3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava!            /~\
    Rose "Bams" Cooper                                   /','\
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    Copyright Rose Cooper, 1999                        /',',','/`,
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