Understanding the intent of a film like New Jack City (1991) becomes difficult once the viewer realizes that Mario Van Peebles is the son of a man who wrote and directed Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song in 1971.

That earlier film, for some, marks the true emergence of a concerted black-centered film market: produced, written and directed by Mario’s pop, Melvin. But watching that film one gets the sense that it was half intended as serious drama, half as political discourse and half (yeah, that’s three halves) as a variation on the crime drama which some could date back to German Expressionist films from the thirties. Sweet Sweetback, in hindsight is ripe for parody – which was basically accomplished with I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka! around the same time that New Jack City was released. While it might be easy for some folks to place New Jack City in the blaxploitation genre – and maybe that’s where it belongs – looking at it as just another crime film works better.

With the various Scarface references that crop up during the film’s runtime, figuring an arc that includes a downward spiral shouldn’t be too difficult. But getting to that point is almost as important as that final scene up on a roof.

The film begins with Ice T’s copper character chasing Chris Rock – who oddly enough appears for a moment in I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka! as well – through parks, playgrounds and the rest of New York’s landscape. It’s a scene that ostensibly sets up the rest of the movie.

Ice T’s the good guy with a mean streak, but hasn’t been able to crack the case he wants. It’s all apparently been small time capers, like chasing a dealer through the park. But with Pebble’s character entering to begin a giant sting operation set to take down Nino Brown, the city’s drug kingpin played by Wesley Snipes, Ice T finds himself with a partner – Judd Nelson.

Seeing Nelson crop up, it’s interesting to note that the vast majority of people that decided to work on this feature don’t any longer factor into Hollywood’s business. Ice T, is of course on TV, but Nelson, Snipes and Rock have all seen their collective glory days pass them by. There’s no way that Pebbles could have known that, just an interesting caveat to the whole thing.

Beyond the curious casting, the fact that New Jack City has been able to impose a still current sway over pop culture is mystifying. The film isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but finding Pookie or Nino Brown references in hip hop up until the present day – listen to anything Raekwon’s worked on in the last few years – could lead the uninitiated to believe the film was something of a Citizen Cane (which is overblown in its own right).

Perhaps, defying criticism, the film has been able to move beyond generic genre trappings and ingratiate itself to such a wide array of fans that whether or not it’s any good doesn’t matter. Either way, it'll entertain you for an hour and a half.