Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – 111 minutes – 1993 – Rated R – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – DTS 5.1 Audio Mix

Back in 1991 in the wave of the black filmmaker explosion, one movie that stood out from the bunch was the urban crime thriller New Jack City, directed by actor Mario Van Peebles (the son of legendary black filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles). It got people interested in Peebles and temporarily pushed him to the A-list in Hollywood. Peebles would follow-up with 1993’s black cowboy film Posse, but made the mistake of making himself the star of the movie, and making you think it should have been called “Peebles” instead of Posse. Available for the first time in the high definition format, Posse is comes to Blu-ray from MGM.

THE MOVIE

The story takes place in 1898 during the Spanish-American War where a soldier named Jesse (Mario Van Peebles), who is part of troop being commanded by a sadistic Colonel named Graham (Billy Zane). Not wanting to put any black soldier in charge of anything, Graham puts a white criminal named Little J (Stephen Baldwin) in charge of leading an all black pack of soldiers across enemy lines to steal a shipment of weapons. The shipment is captured, but they quickly discover that it’s not weapons, it’s a Spanish gold coins, and they realize they’ve been conned by the Graham. They decide to take the gold for themselves and escape to Cuba, enraging Graham, who sets out to hunt them all down and kill them.

The movie stars various black actors (and of course rappers) who were popular in the early 90’s, including Blair Underwood, Big Daddy Kane, Tiny Lister. Tone Loc, Charles Lane, as well as some classic old school faces like Isaac Hayes, Pam Grier, and yes…Nipsey Russell. At the time this may have sounded like a good choice, but watching the film 18 years later this instantly dates the movie. And being that this is already a period based film that was a hard feat to do.

One of the main problems with the film is that there are far too many characters, and none of them have been fleshed out and instead become clichés of the western genre. There’s the outlaw, the gambler, the corrupt official, the innocent kid, and of course the one hot Native American love interest. Jesse’s character that is supposed to be the glue to everyone else, never really gives you a chance to care about him. He’s supposed to be a tortured renegade, who you should be rooting for as he seeks revenge for what has been done to him in the past, but it’s hard when Peebles is walking around showing a much time his spent in the gym and mugging for the camera.

The history of black cowboys in the west is a very interesting topic that has yet to be seriously displayed in a motion picture. Posse at first seems like it’s going to tap into this, but then quickly becomes an over-stylized hip-hop cowboy flick that can’t be taken seriously. Peebles should have stepped back and given himself a minor role as he did with New Jack City. If this film had a more memorable lead character and the music video style of shooting was toned down, the results would have been very different.

Posse is best if you don’t take it seriously, and if you’re aware of who Tone Loc is. Fans of the western will most likely not find anything here interesting, because Unforgiven it is not. One day the black cowboy subject will be tackled in a proper manner, because it does make for an interesting time in history. Posse has not stood up the to test of time like New Jack City did, and I wonder if it would have been a better movie if Wesley Snipes was in the lead role, because his charisma stole the show in New Jack.

VIDEO

The big surprise here is that the transfer for this catalogue film is very well done with a full 1080p image in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Image quality is sharp and the brown tones make for a perfect setting to the gritty style. Colors are saturated and dirty, but in a cowboy flick it works well. Blacks are also nicely balanced, and this film has many night scenes that have very little grain, which is impressive. One scene that stands out is a sequence where the posse is riding on horseback through snow-covered terrain. Here the white snow is overexposed making the scene look like an old photograph, which barely have any hints of color. If more care went into the story as was implemented in the photography, this would have been a homerun.

AUDIO

Presented in 5.1 DTS Digital, Posse is also a winner in the sound department. Dialogue is clear, and the sound effects are completely exaggerated, with bullets zipping by like you’re watching The Matrix, but it all makes for a solid surround sound experience. Being that this is more of a hip-hop western, the music is more pulsing than you would expect from a film in this genre. Overall, the sound mix is well constructed for a film close to two decades old and better than most new Blu-rays that are currently out there.

EXTRAS

The only bonus feature this has, if you can even call is that, is the film’s theatrical trailer. Hey, what is this? A LaserDisc?

BOTTOM LINE

Posse will never be considered a classic, and serves more as a demo reel for Mario Van Peebles trying to be an action hero. For a film nearly 20 years old, the image and sound quality for this Blu-ray are top notch. Unless you already saw this film all those years ago when it came out and are curious for nostalgic reasons, it may be hard to watch this film now. One day there will be a true film about black cowboys, so it is suggested that you wait for that movie to come.

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 2.5

Video: 4.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 0.0

Bottom Line: 2.5