Cut Throat City is a film directed by RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, and it’s a sort of gang/crime movie set in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. This is the most well-received of RZA’s three recent features as a director, and although it’s a not that good, it’s OK. It has a heist at the centre, with four friends in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, a Black area of the city that was badly hit by Katrina. One of them, Blink, and his wife have applied for FEMA aid and were denied, and so the heist plan begins. Most of the film is about how the heist goes wrong and the after-effects, including what happens when a local crime lord thinks they have made off with his money.
The plot is a bit too convoluted, and the film clearly didn’t have a big budget. It does have a certain energy to it that makes it enjoyable, however. Early on, there’s a very funny conversation about Quentin Tarantino and his use of nigger in his films (especially funny since Tarantino and RZA are apparently still friends). It also has something to say about the ways that black people in the US have been fucked over, and specifically with regards to Katrina.
The main cast are people I don’t recognise, although Shamiek Moore (Blink) has been the voice of Miles in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Ethan Hawke shows up in a small role as a detective, and Terrence Howard and Wesley Snipes pop up as well. It’s a decent attempt at a ‘90s-style urban crime movie. Surprisingly, the soundtrack is nothing special.
So while it’s a decent little movie, it’s not going to set the world on fire. It was clearly shot on location, and that adds to the atmosphere. It’s a film that was lost in the shuffle due to Covid, including not getting any theatrical release in the UK (I don’t know whether that was originally planned or not, though).
The DVD does not include any extras.
★★★
Ian Schultz
psychotroniccinema.com 