Simply A Masterpiece

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) is the star basketball player at his high school, but his overly developed ego limits him from reaching his full potential. However via trials and tribulations he slowly starts finding the right path, in some part thanks to an unwilling mentor in the form of the school security guard Shep (Leon), who used to be NBA material, until one day tragically (and unintentionally comically) his best friend plummets to his death after trying to dunk. His brother on the other hand is local badboy Birdie (Tupac Shakur), who took to crime after Shep bailed out on the family.Despite B-movie credentials the presence of Tupac Shakur seems to have torpedoed the popularity of "Above the Rim". The story however remains derivative throughout, whilst the secondary plot is more than a tad schmaltzy, thrown in for good measure to introduce a father figure for Kyle. In addition to that the director Jeff Pollack goes extremely by the book, avoiding any turns or twists. Keeping it simple doesn't however work, as the resulting story is plot-thin and scarce of emotion. Once it gets to the ultimate and predictable show-down no connection has really been created between the viewers and the characters, hence no real enjoyment in watching this purposeless flick.Some key scenes are plain funny, unwillingly drawing a smirk to your face, while certain situations are blunderingly solved with disregard to logic and reason.

I bought the DVD of Above the Rim at my local Video Store when they were having a going out of business sale. I primarily bought it to see Tupac's acting since I've been a fan of his music. I watched this movie while working out on the treadmill, and it's great for that.Tupac's performance wasn't quite up to what I expected, I'm sorry to say. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I had seen the movie at the time of its original release, or at least before seeing the wonderful Tupac Resurrection. But the other actors are fine and somewhere in this basketball picture is a subplot that "has a heart". It's several steps above your typical "teenage hood" movie, and a solid 7. I also appreciated the DVD's "English Subtitiles". I wish that they could be made standard. (You appreciate it when you want to workout at midnight and watch a DVD when others want to sleep!)

This movie deserves more credit then critics should give. This movie had an all star cast as the up and coming Marlon Wayans,Tupac Shakur,Leon,Duane Martin,Henry Simmons,Bernie Mac,and the lovely Tonya Pinkins. Each actor played their part magnificiently and it was hip,touching,and realistic. The beginning was a little off when Leon dreamed of his best friend's death and then focused mainly on Duane Martin's basketball skills,and him trying to get into Georgetown University. Marlon Wayans was the comic relief in the film who's been released from prison. Bernie Mac was the homeless man who was interested in basketball but never made it. Tupac was the ruthless street hustler and the coach of a dirty playing basketball team. There were other former R&B stars who starred in the movie but only had small parts. To wrap it up in a nutshell Above the rim to me is one of the most memorable urban basketball movies I've ever saw.

Wow!!! for one it's a good story about talent being corrupted by the street game, nicely directed good performances from Duane Martin, Leon, Bernie Mac, Wood Harris and the late Tupac Shakur. Marlon Wayans is used in a good way in this movie, he was pretty interesting. Jeff Pollack knew what he was doing directing the basketball scenes.Great movie