Product Details

• Actors: Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne, Chris Rock, Mario Van Peebles
• Directors: Mario Van Peebles
• Writers: Barry Michael Cooper, Thomas Lee Wright
• Producers: Doug McHenry, Dwight Williams, Fab 5 Freddy, George Jackson, James Bigwood
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: April 10, 1992
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302101751
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,025 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Some pundits called it a flawed, exploitative action film that glamorized drug dealing and the luxury of a lucrative criminal lifestyle, spawning a trend of films that attracted youth gangs and provoked violence in theaters. Others hailed it as a breakthrough movie that depicted drug dealers as ruthless, corrupt, and evil, leading dead-end lives that no rational youth would want to emulate. However you interpret it, New Jack City is still one of the first and best films of the 1990s to crack open the underworld of cocaine and peer inside with its eyes wide open. It's also the film that established Wesley Snipes as an actor to watch, with enough charisma to bring an insidious quality of seduction to his role as coke-lord Nino Brown, and enough intelligence to portray a character deluded by his own sense of indestructible power. Director Mario Van Peebles stretched his otherwise-limited talent to bring vivid authenticity and urgency to this crime story, and subplots involving a pair of tenacious cops (Ice-T, Judd Nelson) and a recovering coke addict (Chris Rock) provide additional dramatic tension. Although some critics may hesitate to admit it, New Jack City deserves mention in any serious discussion about African American filmmakers and influential films. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Two-Disc Special Edition, August 31, 2005

By 

Dorrie Wheeler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

The two-disc special edition of New Jack City is a great investment for fans of the classic hip-hop drama. Released in 1991, New Jack City was the first feature film Mario Van Peebles released. The film also was a breeding ground for actors who went on to have very successful careers. The music of the "New Jack" movie is almost as memorable as the movie itself. Ice T stars in the film as a "New Jack" cop who goes undercover to break down the "CMB" crime mob. Crack was running rampant. Wesley Snipes starred as Nino Brown and Allen Payne starred as his right hand man "G-Money." It's a great film and Chris Rock appears in the film as a crack head named Pookie. "New Jack City" is the first hip-hop gangsta movie classic. It wasn't just a shoot em' up bang bang movie, it really captures the essence of those mafia/organized crime movies. The DVD's packaging is very nice.

The Road To New Jack City-
This is hands down the best featurette on the special features.
Usually when you see these behind the scenes features, at lease one of the main actors is missing. Not so with New Jack City. Mario Van Peebles (actor/director), Ice-T, Chris Rock, Wesley Snipes, Allen Payne and Judd Nelson speak on the film. It's really interesting to see the actors express their feelings about the film. Nino Brown is such a memorable character and Wesley Snipes seems very upbeat in reminiscing about the film. This featurette is really amazing because they get inside of every major character involved in the film. They even discuss certain scenes. This is great.

NJC-A Hip Hop Classic
Fab Five, Nappy Roots, Truth Hurts, A DJ from Power 106, Ed Lover, Ice T, Warren G, and a few others speak about the film and the films soundtrack. Cassandra Mills-the soundtracks producer tells the story of the films soundtrack. She states this was the first soundtrack that featured rap, hip-hop and pop songs. She explained how Color Me Badd had a #1 song, the Christopher Williams song was doing it's thing on the pop charts and the Ice T song was thing on the rap chart. She states they had three hit songs from the soundtrack prior to the film even coming out.

Music Videos
Ice T-New Jack Hustler
Color Me Badd-I Wanna Sex You Up
Don't Wake Me (I'm Dreamin)-Christopher Williams

Two disc set also includes a feature title "Harlem World-A Walk Inside (Mario takes viewers on a tour of memorable locations seen in the film) and Director/Co-Star commentary by Mario Van Peebles.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Influential and surprisingly still holds up today, June 15, 2006

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Mario Van Peebles directed and co-stars in this influential and well filmed urban crime saga that surprisingly still holds up today. New Jack City, like King of New York, Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society, has spawned a host of immitators to this day, but it's Peebles heartfelt message that sets New Jack City apart from others. Peebles stars as one of the honest cops (along with pimp turned rapper turned actor Ice-T and Judd Nelson) trying to nail ruthless drug czar Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and bring down his empire of drugs and murder, to little avail. A young Chris Rock stars as a recovering addict who Ice-T and co. look upon to help them nab Nino, but it soon proves to be something that is much easier said than done. Unlike the "gangsta" films that followed, New Jack City offered a glimmer of hope under the violence and pounding hip-hop soundtrack, and it helped launch the career of the charismatic Snipes who would become an action star as the decade progressed. The rest of the cast does great as well, and it's nice to see that the film gets the Special Edition treatment it has deserved. All in all, New Jack City remains a near classic of the genre, and still manages to hold up to this day.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Jack Drug-goons, April 29, 2009

By 

EJ Macheyo "ejmac" (Secunda, RSA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

I grew up on a staple of spaghetti westerns (Terence Hill), kung-fu (Bruce Lee & Jacky Chan) and action (Bruce Willis) flicks but as a young black man growing up in Kambuzuma, Harare, Zimbabwe I did not identify myself with any ONE genre. Kine 1000 was a typical urban cinema goer's paradise.
Enter Wesley Snipes in 1991's New Jack City and my whole world changed. Here was a despicable villain, vicious, arrogant and totally self-serving an individual as you ever will see, yet he was charming ang very likeable at the same time. I identified with him, I hated his politics (so to speak) but in the same breath I knew a 1000 like him who corrupted nations and enriched themselves while so doing. The movie was set in America but it could have been enacted in any urban city in the world.
Happening, relevant and totally and brutally believable! Snipes is excellent, Allen Payne, Ice T, Judd Nelson & Chris Rock not far behind this movie set the the tone for all drug related movies to follow. Brilliant movie, brilliant acting this film turned me off drugs for life!