1992 Tries To Be Two Movies

1992 (Blu-ray)

2024 / 97 min

FROM LIONSGATE

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😽

1992 tries to be two movies at once. As a thriller, there’s plenty of action and suspense, anchored by a commanding performance from Tyrese Gibson. But as social commentary on historic events…well, nice try.

The historic event in question is the violent, destructive citywide protest following the verdict of the Rodney King trial, where four cops were found not guilty of severely beating King, even though it was caught on video. That verdict severely exacerbated racial tensions, not just in Los Angeles, but society as well. For the most part, our reactions and opinions of the video, trial and ensuing riot were based on what the TV showed us.

Despite taking place during the riots themselves, 1992 doesn’t offer much beyond what we saw on TV three decades ago, save for a few brief scenes where Gibson’s character has the foresight to know what the verdict means to the African-American community. Those moments are fleeting, though, and the unrest itself becomes just a superfluous backdrop for a heist thriller. In fact, the setting could just as easily be any social upheaval, real or imagined. 

Still, 1992 tells a pretty decent story. Mercer (Gibson) is a parolee who puts his past behind him for the sake of estranged teenage son Antoine (Christopher Ammanuel). As rioting begins to consume their neighborhood, Mercer decides taking Antoine to his place of work, a metal factory, will keep them safe from the melee. Meanwhile, Riggin Bigby (Scott Eastwood) and his crew plan to break-in to the same place and steal platinum used to make catalytic converters (which is worth millions). He reluctantly includes his unhinged father, Lowell (Ray Liotta, in his last performance), for the job.

"Damn machine kept my change."

With the city in turmoil and police preoccupied, Riggin figures things should go without a hitch…at least until one of Lowell’s overzealous thugs shoots a security guard, who then triggers an alarm that makes breaking into the vault more difficult. When Mercer and Antoine eventually show up, the latter ends up being grabbed by Lowell, while Mercer captures Riggin, resulting in a tense stand-off. There is also a little Die Hard thrown into the narrative as Mercer clashes with some of the other crew.

While nothing groundbreaking, the action-thriller aspects of the story are pretty well conceived, with a couple of intense sequences and bursts of gritty violence. The supporting performances are generally pretty solid, with usually-bland Eastwood being a pleasant surprise. Conversely, Liotta isn’t required to do much with his one-note character but demonstrate how vicious he can be, making it kind of a shame this is how career ends.

It’s ultimately the heist elements of 1992 that make it worth checking out. The backdrop of the L.A. riots seems almost redundant and is largely an inconsequential part of the narrative. That’s not to say every movie set during a tumultuous period should address relevant societal issues, but this one initially has us expecting it’ll be more than just another crime thriller.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - A South Central Story mostly features actor Tyrese Gibson and director/co-writer Ariel Vromen; Two Families, Two Worlds: Making 1992 is a pretty decent 25-minutes making-of doc.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director/co-writer Ariel Vromen and co-producer T’Shaun Barrett.

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