The LA Riots, also known as the Rodney King riots burned through Los Angeles in the spring of 1992. The powder keg of a populace fed up with racial injustice and police brutality had it’s fuse lit when the “Police Officers” charged with the beating of a man named Rodney King, were found Not Guilty and released. Why the history lesson? Well, as the title of the film suggests, this snippet of time in LA serves as the backdrop for a the new heist/action film starring Tyrese Gibson, Scott Eastwood and Ray Liotta in one of the final films he shot before his untimely passing.
1992, directed by Ariel Vromen, is really the story of two fathers and their sons. Sadly, this isn’t a family friendly little league film about “having a catch” so it’s safe to say this isn’t your standard father/son story. Tyrese Gibson stars as Mercer Bey, an ex-con who is trying to do right by his son Antonie (Christopher Ammanuel) and get his life on track. When the LA Riots start to spin out of control Mercer grabs his son and plans to ride out the storm at his job, a factory which makes catalytic converters. Unfortunately for all involved, their paths are about to cross with Riggin (Scott Eastwood) and Lowell (Ray Liotta). Riggin is following in the footsteps of his criminal father and has put together a plan to use the riots as cover to rob the factory where Mercer works. Apparently making catalytic converters requires platinum, and this place has $10M dollars worth of the stuff (hmm…I guess THAT is why crackheads love stealing them). Once Mercer and Antoine make it to the factory and have a moment of relief to be away from the chaos of a riot that killed 62 people by the time all was said and done, they quickly realize they’ve gone from the frying pan and into the fire.
I love the dynamic setup by Vromen and writer Sascha Penn, the completely different sets of Father’s and Son’s thrust into this situation while dealing with their own internal family drama really ups the ante of the film. Knowing that Mercer is putting everything he has into fixing his life and, more importantly, his relationship with his son ups the tension to the nth degree each time Antoine finds himself in mortal danger. On the other side of the coin, knowing that Riggin basically hates his father, while at the same time being desperate to earn his respect removes any boundaries that you think there may be to what he will do to pull off this heist. Nothing is off the table. The true highlight for me was Tyrese, with the last decade and a half of Transformers and Fast & Furious films it’s easy to forget that the guy has some dramatic chops. He digs deep and puts emotion into his performance that we haven’t seen from him since Baby Boy. When you consider that he’s acting opposite Ray Liotta it’s even more impressive. Liotta, for his part, was always the consummate professional. One could almost understand if he phoned in parts like this but that’s simply not his style. Liotta creates an unhinged, irredeemable villain with his depiction of Lowell. Someone that gauges the level of “love” (if you can call it that) for his son on what the kid can do for him. The photo negative of the father Mercer is trying to be.
The downside is that, outside of the character aspects listed above, 1992 is simply a standard action/heist film. You should not go into this looking for high levels of allegory to what’s going on in the city outside the factory. The riots are a plot device and a way to establish the time and place of the film, nothing more. That’s fine, in my opinion. You can use historical moments as the backdrop for a film and nothing more. I don’t feel like the marketing promised anything more then what was delivered so viewers shouldn’t be surprised. While the cast is filled out with a handful of other actors they truly fall into the “standard action film” of it all. Even Riggin’s brothers serve as little more then a way to deliver random exposition and elevate the body count.
1992 is really a case of “Come for the action, stay for the story”. The juxtaposition of these diametrically opposed domestic situations is, quite simply, just a really original way to deliver the tension needed for a solid action film. While I made a number of references to this being a standard action film keep in mind that there’s nothing inherently wrong with being standard. Standard is what we’re used to, 1992 hits all of the proper notes and even adds something new to the formula. Not a bad way to spend 96 minutes. Now, let’s just all hope that Tyrese chooses to lean into those dramatic chops he’s been ignoring for so long, I love silly Tyrese, don’t get me wrong, but I really think there’s potential for something special hidden deep in that man’s talent.
