The uproar that followed the Rodney King verdict serves as a mere backdrop for fathers and sons to work out their issues in a heist thriller.
The Los Angeles riots ultimately amount to little more than a plot device in “1992,” a rote heist thriller that tosses in a double dose of father-son melodrama. Or maybe the paternal bonding has been grafted on to the caper. Either way, nothing in the foreground of this hacky effort, directed by Ariel Vromen, is as interesting as what is happening in the backdrop — which is to say, the Rodney King verdict and its aftermath.
Mercer (Tyrese Gibson) is a former gang member six months out of prison and now the sole custodian of his teenage son, Antoine (Christopher A’mmanuel), who resents him for not having been around. With the verdict set to be announced, Mercer wants Antoine to come straight home from school. Things “might get a little crazy out there today,” he says. Antoine doesn’t exactly listen; Mercer, searching for him that evening, catches up with Antoine right after he has thrown an object through a shop window. Later, the two are subject to a racist traffic stop in one of the film’s few potent scenes.
Separately, the uproar that follows the acquittal becomes an excuse for a family of thieves to try to steal $10 million worth of platinum from the factory where Mercer works. After all, the city’s attention is elsewhere.
But the hothead dad (Ray Liotta, in one of his final roles) likewise has trust issues with his sons (Scott Eastwood and Dylan Arnold). And when Mercer and Antoine seek refuge at the factory, the movie devolves into a tedious series of standoffs and tests of loyalty. The look is drab, the action is barely coherent, and Liotta deserved to go out with a better line than “I did the best that I could, son. I’m sorry it wasn’t enough.”
1992
Rated R. Gun violence and racial slurs. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
