1992 (2024) Lionsgate/Drama-Action RT: 96 minutes Rated R (violence and pervasive language) Director: Ariel Vromen Screenplay: Sascha Penn and Ariel Vromen Music: Gilad Benamram Cinematography: Frank G. DeMarco Release date: August 30, 2024 (US) Cast: Tyrese Gibson, Scott Eastwood, Ray Liotta, Christopher Ammanuel, Dylan Arnold, Cle Bennett, Ori Pfeffer, Oleg Taktarov, Michael Beasley.
Rating: ***
The crime drama 1992 was originally titled April 29, 1992. Does the date sound familiar? It should if you were following the news at the time. It was the first night of the Los Angeles riots in response to an all-white jury acquitting four white L.A. cops on charges of assaulting black motorist Rodney King the year before. The video of them beating King while he was on the ground was seen on the news all over the world. The verdict, seen as unfair and unjust by the black community, resulted in six days of rioting and looting in L.A. The police finally had to call in the National Guard to help restore order.
Directed by Israeli filmmaker Ariel Vromen (The Iceman), 1992 is NOT about the riots per se. Its story plays out in and around them. Its central figures are two men, ex-con Mercer (Gibson, the Fast & Furious films) and professional thief Lowell (Liotta, Goodfellas). Both of them have rocky relationships with their sons. Mercer, six months out of prison, is trying to keep his teenage son Antoine (Ammanuel, Black Lightning) from turning out like him. He’s hard on the boy which causes a lot of resentment. Lowell, on the other hand, wants his son Riggin (Eastwood, the Fast & Furious films) to be just like him. He wants him to stay in the family business even though the young man wants out. He wants the same for his little brother Dennis (Arnold, Halloween), an innocent sort who still watches cartoons on TV. That he’s watching Ren & Stimpy confirms it’s ’92.
When the riots break out, Mercer’s first thought is to go home and collect his son so he can bring him back to his workplace, a factory where he does maintenance. When he gets home, Antoine isn’t there so he goes out into the night to look for him amidst all the violence and mayhem. Meanwhile, the riots make an excellent cover for a heist proposed by Riggin but initially rejected by Lowell who changes his mind in light of recent events. The plan is to steal $10 million in platinum from the same factory where Mercer works.
I’m going to jump ahead a bit and tell you the robbery is interrupted by the arrival of Mercer and Antoine. Lowell holds the teen hostage while Mercer does whatever he can to rescue his son. To say he goes all Die Hard on Lowell and his crew isn’t quite accurate. It’s not completely inaccurate either. There is gunplay and fist play, but Mercer hardly ascends to the hero level of John McClane.
1992 is Liotta’s final film. He completed it shortly before his death in 2022. Watching him in it, I’m reminded of the tremendous loss to the film industry. He was a great actor. He had an intensity about him you can’t fake. He delivers an excellent final performance in 1992 even if writers Vromen and Sascha Penn devote too little time to explaining the exact nature of his character’s relationship with his sons. Why exactly do they dislike each other? It’s never fully explained although one could infer it has something to do with Lowell’s criminal lifestyle and the effect it had on the family. On the upside, nobody plays unhinged quite like Liotta did and that’s the note he leaves on with 1992. How he deals with a critically injured accomplice is the very definition of cold and crazed.
Gibson does a fine job as Mercer, a former gang banger trying to put that life behind him in order to be the father his son needs. It’s hard because he has quite the reputation in the hoods. When a young punk threatens him with a gun, the gang leader gives him hell for it, asking him if he knows who he’s f***ing with. Mercer may be tough and stoic, but he’s no fool. He knows when to stand down and take the s*** life throws at him like when he’s stopped at a roadblock by racist cops. He knows not to exacerbate the situation by reacting.
Antoine, on the other hand, is an angry black teen who doesn’t understand why his father won’t take part in the violent protests. He doesn’t want to hear it when Dad tries to talk some sense into him. Ammanuel gives a good performance in a role that many other young black actors have played, most notably Cuba Gooding Jr. in 1991’s Boyz n the Hood. Eastwood is also good in an underwritten role. I would have liked to know more about what makes him tick.
Vromen doesn’t quite manage to strike a perfect balance between the dual father-son dramas and the action aspects of 1992. It takes a little too long to get to the action, but it’s worth the wait. It’s fairly exciting with all the shooting and the climactic car chase. Vromen knows his way around an action scene. For the most part, 1992 is a well made crime drama that doesn’t delve too deeply into the weightier racial and socioeconomic themes involving the riots. It does go there, but it never stays too long. It’s pretty good, especially for a film released on the final weekend of the summer movie season.
