Hell Up In Harlem

John Chard6/10

Apr 22, 2019

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Serious side-burns is back! After the success of Black Caesar earlier in the year, this sequel was rushed into production to hopefully cash in on the clamour for Blaxploitation shenanigans. Sadly it's a rush job that is all too evidently half baked. Plot has Fred Wiliamson return as Tommy Gibbs (resurrected from the dead apparently!), who takes on corrupt D.A. Diangelo (Gerald Gordon) whilst dealing with matters of the heart. Directed by Larry Cohen, it's with Cohen's frank honest views on the film that critique should start. He would say that Hell Up In Harlem is a 90 minutes montage movie, and he is absolutely right. This is jerkily episodic as it runs a course of people talking then cutting to boisterous action, then some talking and cut again to some more boisterous action, and on it goes for the complete run time. That the action is so gripping - and some choice dialogue zingers in the mix as well - keeps this from being an unwatchable mess. You also have to have respect for this type of guerrilla film making, it literally is filmed on the fly. Regardless of the unbelievable aspects of it all, the oodles of bright red fake blood, and poorly executed stunt work, the rawness of the violence keeps things above average. In fact there's a bit of bad taste simmering away in the violent dynamics, with no legal consequences of lead character's actions, which of course is a blaxploitation trait. It's messy, but it's entertaining mess within the genre it sits in. 6/10

A lot of crazy shit happens in this film. Like an entire season's plots in 90 minutes. Some gags too. Airport baggage claim was a good gag. I wasn’t always excited for the action or acting. Jarring but inventive. Best assassin in Harlem for a reason. Ethan Hunt has nothing on Tommy Gibbs. He’s so fast in those shoes. I tried to run in a movie, Cold War, once. It’s hard. You have to practice before you try to run in a movie. I suppose football provides enough running practice to run in films. This guy is the Terminator. Not even out of breath.