( tv-1993 ) * 1/2 - c : bokeem woodbine , michael biehn , craig wasson . yet another in a long line of " hood " movies , and this one is just as bad as the rest . " strapped " tells us the story of diquan , a teenaged ex-con with a heart made of gold and a mind made of cheese . diquan has a pregnant girlfriend and a steady job as a delivery boy . then , his girlfriend is arrested for selling crack ( for the third time ) and she's facing a long stretch in jail . so , you know , he's got to do whatever it takes to get the bail money for her . this means he's got to sell guns to ten year old kids . any sympathy i might have had for this character was gone after that . then there's " the man " , a white police officer ( biehn ) who wants to help diquan get his girl out of jail if he'll give him information as to who's selling guns on the streets to ten year old kids . of course " whitey " is the bad guy here , wanting to get those guns off the streets and all , sheesh . so anyway , by the end of the film diquan is facing with his toughest decision , should he save his crack dealing girl or should he save his gun selling buddy . instead he cops out and comes up with the most ridiculous solution , which then renders the entire film as being completely pointless . first-time director forest whitaker does an impressive job with the film . it's a very well made movie , except that every ten minutes or so the action is interrupted by a few seconds of the main character jumping up and down while listening to rap music . the problem here is with the script . first , you've got no one to like here . you keep trying to like biehn's character but the film keeps telling you not to , cause he's " whitey " . and diquan keeps an attitude about him like " yeah ? so what if she was selling crack ? she's pregnant ! let her out ! " also , the whole entire movie is basically slang , and it's very difficult to understand . for example , diquan's heartfelt comments to a friend of his that he sees shoot another kid : " yo man you whacked ! " touching . but , there is an appearance by the fat kid from " lean on me " , so you make up your own minds . " strapped " was made for hbo . have a question or comment ? email me at <a href= " mailto : chuckd21@southeast . net " >chuckd21@southeast . net</a>-- chuck dowling visit chuck's movie reviews at <a href= " http : //users . southeast . net/~chuckd21/ " >http : //users . southeast . net/~chuckd21/</a> over 1 , 500 movies rated and/or reviewed ! movie news , box office reports , film related links , and reader's polls and reviews . 
