Girlz in the hood clash with drug big-shot Ice-T in CROSSED THE LINE (2014), an unremarkable but okay street thriller from first-time director and co-writer Dennis Conrad.
It's mainly the story of four sisters living in the old family home and trying to get along after their mom dies. Kyra, the responsible one (Caryn Ward), doggedly holds the family together and keeps Mom's old flower shop going.
Youngest sister Sherrie (Lauren Pennington) is trying to get into college on a tennis scholarship, and Denita (Shanell Mondane) struggles to make it into nursing school. Lynn (La'Myia Good) is the selfish, no-account sister who just needs to shut up but never does.
Into all of their turbulent family drama slinks Miguel (Ice-T, BLOODRUNNERS), the ruthless neighborhood drug kingpin who wants to buy the flower shop as a front for his operation. Kyra refuses, of course, putting her and her sisters at odds with the bad guys.
Meanwhile, Sherrie's in love with local punk Twist (Sam Sarpong), and when Twist gets caught stealing from the big guy he manages to drag the whole Willis family into a mess in which Sherrie becomes the target of a drive-by shooting and the rest of the girls may be next.
Caryn Ward's energetic performance as Kyra carries much of the early part of CROSSED THE LINE. When she's wrongly convicted of drug possession (thanks to no-good sis Lynn) her time in the slammer with a hostile cellmate (Vanessa A. Williams as "Juicie") also adds to the film's growing tension.
La'Myia Good is another standout as self-centered troublemaker Lynn. Ice-T, of course, is an old hand at this kind of stuff by now and gives his role the patented "smooth criminal" touch that he's good at doing.
The dramatic elements of the story keep us sufficiently occupied until finally Kyra gets backed into a corner and must decide whether or not to take a stand against Miguel and his crew.
That's when the film finally becomes the revenge tale we've expected when the girls get their hands on some guns and go into action.
This is kept pretty believable for the most part--thankfully, they don't all suddenly turn into a bunch of spin-kicking, sharp-shooting Mary Sues in their assault on Miguel's headquarters.
Much of the gunplay, in fact, ends up taking place between Miguel's men and another gang. Director Conrad is no Sam Peckinpah but the final shoot-out is handled well enough to cap things off in satisfying fashion.
There's also a bit of a twist ending that's a nice comment on the cycle of violence and all that. While nothing to write home about, CROSSED THE LINE is passable B-movie entertainment that pretty much comes through with what we're expecting to get out of it.
Run Time: 92 Minutes
Rating: NR
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Language: English
Subtitles: English
VOD: Available on Cable, Apple iTunes and other Leading Digital Providers
DVD/BD: Available at Amazon, Walmart.com, Target.com, BN.com, Best Buy and other leading retailers across the country.
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