There's a striking moment in 1992, among many, where the lead crook played by Scott Eastwood turns to his younger brother once a robbery opportunity presents itself. "All it took was 12 racist f***s in Simi Valley," he says, now that the city around him has rightfully erupted in protest. The year is 1992, hence the impactful title of the film, and the city is Los Angeles. More specifically, we're in the Watts area of the City of Angels for this new Lionsgate offering from director Ariel Vromen, working off the script he wrote with Sascha Penn.
Eastwood is reliably solid in a leading role, but top billing goes to Tyrese Gibson in perhaps his finest role to date. There are parallel stories that ultimately converge for the latter half of this fictitious tale set against a very once-real backdrop. 1992 sets up an intriguing premise of pitting one father-son duo against another, and Gibson's journey fortunately overshadows the other, less impactful one. The late great Ray Liotta — just went you thought his last project had taken its bow — plays a pivotal role in the opposite journey, which helps. If only it didn't all run a bit thin by the end, then 1992 would have been a home run. And a splash of the late, great Ray Liotta always helps, of course...
Exploring a City on Fire, 30 Years Later
30 years later, the Watts Riots of '92 are rightfully still being discussed, as police brutality continues to make headlines across the U.S. George Holliday, the videographer who filmed the infamous Rodney King beating that would be played around the world for years to come (and spliced into the opening sequence of Spike Lee's acclaimed Malcolm X biopic), passed away in 2021, but the tragic legacy he captured lives on. It wasn't enough to sway the all-white jury that acquitted the officers who beat King mercilessly at the time in the early '90s, and the wildly controversial verdict is what kickstarts Lionsgate's new crime thriller.
With LA County native Snoop Dogg serving as an executive producer on the film, the outrage across the city after it learned of the verdict is palpable in 1992. This is Tyrese Gibson's story at its core, as the lead actor carries the film even when it, unfortunately, goes off the rails in focusing on the less impactful heist operative. Gibson captivates in the role of Mercer, a struggling father of rebellious teenager Antoine (Christopher A’mmanuel), who becomes all the more volatile once the community erupts around them. Mercer is merely trying to rebuild his life after past missteps and ultimately just earn a dollar at his modest factory job across town, and when he must travel there on the day of the verdict's unveiling, a series of life-threatening hiccups soon present themselves...
First comes a chilling encounter with a racist white police officer as night falls. Watch as Mercer gets pulled over for no apparent reason, with Antoine riding shotgun. Sure, we've seen despicable, racially charged encounters with law enforcement agents depicted time and time again on the big screen, but there's something quite heroic about the way Mercer carries himself in the name of fatherhood and what we must sacrifice in order to protect our offspring. Antoine protests with utter rage as his father succumbs to the white officer's discriminatory mistreatment, someone who clearly held racist beliefs even before Los Angeles erupted in protest that fateful day of the Rodney King verdict. It's difficult to watch, but that's certainly the point.
RIP, the Great Ray Liotta
Mercer's other big hiccup on the trek to his workplace comes upon arrival, in the form of the heist that Riggin (Eastwood), his opportunist dad Lowell (Liotta), and well-meaning but conflicted brother Dennis (Dyland Arnold) have coincidentally orchestrated. Watts and Los Angeles in general are overrun with demonstrations and fiery clashes with authorities, so why not utilize this overwhelming distraction to a crook's advantage? It's too bad Mercer had to arrive to inadvertently throw a wrench in said plan, and that's where Gibson and Eastwood have a fun little Fast & Furious reunion in a completely separate story.
Whether you were already well versed in the '92 Watts riots and Rodney King horror story or not, there's a solid chance that by the end of Lionsgate's new offering, you might be wishing that more of Mercer's journey outside of the bumbling heist had been more of a focus. That's not to say seeing Liotta and Eastwood play a heated father-son duo isn't a hoot, but Riggin is the kind of role the talented Eastwood might call a "walk in the park."
Gibson, meanwhile, re-solidifies his leading-man Hollywood status here, and 1992 might just go down as his crowning on-screen achievement down the line. The real-life Watts native lived through this pivotal time in history, after all, and watch as his new thriller creates an utterly immersive feel during those exterior shots of the outraged city around him. It's cinematic bliss.
From Lionsgate, 1992 will be released in theaters on Friday.
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