This is the good brother/bad brother storyline, allied to the theme of crime and the Grim Reaper combining to ruin lives in the 'hood. Clichés abound - 'He died in the war; they just didn't bury him' - and the ingredients are all familiar: gang violence, despairing mother, the naked love scene in a field of flowers, the bank robbery and even the final revelation of how hero Allen Payne's father (Forest Whitaker) actually met his death. It's all depressingly predictable, just like the fates of its characters, although the film is decently made and has a heroine in Jada Pinkett Smith who doesn't overact and has a pleasant personality into the bargain.

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