On the surface Original GANGSTAS insinuates it's going to be a tough , gritty vigilante thriller set in the ghetto with a bunch of law abiding citizens taking on some nasty gang bangers . At it's most vague and basic this is exactly what it is . But remember one thing - the cast list . Who's appearing . We've got Richard Roundtree , Jim Brown , Ron O' Neal , Pam Grier and Fred Williamson basically every mainstay from the blaxploitation movies from the 1970s . And this is how the movie plays out . In effect you're watching a sequel to all these funky movies from the 1970s , produced for white people for black people . Even the title of the movie has undertones of a follow up to these 70s movies
The problem is that by the 1990s had come along Tarantino was the pin up boy of American cinema . We were now in the era of post modernism - some might claim post , post modernism - and watching OG you're struck by the lack of self referential concepts behind the proceedings . It also goes against the grain of other movies such as MENACE 2 SOCIETY in that there's a lack of anti-gangsta subtext and any social commentary is loosely touched upon and shallow . In effect it's straight forward vigilante wish fulfillment while being enjoyable to a degree certainly belongs in another era
The problem is that by the 1990s had come along Tarantino was the pin up boy of American cinema . We were now in the era of post modernism - some might claim post , post modernism - and watching OG you're struck by the lack of self referential concepts behind the proceedings . It also goes against the grain of other movies such as MENACE 2 SOCIETY in that there's a lack of anti-gangsta subtext and any social commentary is loosely touched upon and shallow . In effect it's straight forward vigilante wish fulfillment while being enjoyable to a degree certainly belongs in another era