Equal Standard follows an NYPD detective named Chris (Tobias Truvillion) who is out with a friend, and is accosted by two racist cops that don't realize Chris is a cop too. Shots are fired, Chris is hit, and one of the racist cops is killed. This sparks a massive controversy, as the city is already tense due to a rash of police shootings, plus the racist cop is from a "Blue Lives Matter"-type family, where the younger brother and a racist friend want revenge, while the older brother has a sense of what his family's about and is trying to stop the younger brother before he gets into trouble. Underneath this, local gangs led by Ice-T and Treach call a truce so they can deal with their common enemy: the NYPD. All Chris wants is for this to end so he, his wife, and daughter can move on and live their lives.
This was really good. There were some clunky moments with some of the interludes that were mixed in, where some of the supporting characters would have conversations that tried to delve into issues like how cops that also happen to be people of color feel about what's happening, but that's a smaller issue, and to some extent it still worked despite the clunkiness. What I liked was the compelling characters in Chris and his wife Jackie (Syleena Johnson), both police officers who both want to make a positive difference, but also just want a comfortable life for them and their daughter. It grounds the film and gives it a level of humanness that we often don't get in movies like this. From there, we had great supporting performances from bigger names like Ice-T; Robert Clohessy, who plays an IA investigator looking into the shooting who thinks something's off with the dead cop's partner's story; General Hospital's Maurice Bernard as Chris's police captain; and Chris Kerson as the dead cop's older brother. Finally, because the film was shot in New York, we get the full effect of the "New York as a character" element. At times it feels like an unfeeling observer, lurking in the background throughout all the conflict and tension; but at others it feels like a massive gravitational force that can pull the story in different directions. This is worth checking out, especially while you can stream it for free.
We always start with our DTVC Hall of Famer, and this film is no different, as Ice-T proves again why he has that status, and why he should've been inducted long before he was. It's the perfect use of him too, if you only have him for a short shooting schedule, make him the high-level gang boss that isn't in the film as much, and he'll make the most of that time, which he did. Everything you want in that character, a sense of menace and power, yet he's also intriguing and compelling. This is now 18 films for him, and I think this performance here is a reminder of how much more we need to get him on the site. Truly one of the greats, which he reinforces in this film.
One of the elements I really liked in this film was the way it depicted racism and removed some of the verbal equivocations racists try to use to avoid saying they're racist. One involves the N word, where racists will sometimes say "if black people can use the word, why can't white people?" The film smashes that false equivalency when we have two scenes almost back-to-back, one where some of the gang members call themselves the N word, and then another when the racist cop's father goes to the police station and uses it. That juxtaposition is sharp and jarring, and it delivers the point effectively that the two uses are not the same. Another is the Confederate Flag. Racists have all kinds of excuses for why they have it--"it represents the South," "I like Lynyrd Skynyrd," "it's part of my heritage as a Southerner." Again, the filmmakers smash those equivocations when the racist cop's younger brother and his White Nationalist friend break into Chris's house and hang a Confederate Flag on the wall. The message the flag is meant to convey is clear, there's no other reason why they'd do that if that flag meant anything else.
Someone I wasn't expecting to see was Maurice Bernard, who plays Chris's captain. I know him as Sonny, the mob boss on General Hospital, which I haven't seen in years, and didn't realize was still on the air. Growing up, my mom watched the ABC soap operas, which were All My Children, One Life to Live, and then General Hospital. Later, when I was older, our neighbor would babysit my younger brother and sister after school, and she watched General Hospital as well. I remember I'd go inside to get my baseball glove or basketball or something, my friends waiting outside, and then I'd find myself watching it until the commercial, and my friends would be annoyed that I kept them waiting. There's something about soap operas that always drew me in. Anyway, I was curious which soaps were still on the air now. General Hospital was the lone survivor on ABC; and then Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful are still on CBS--and I thought that was it, but Days is streaming only on Peacock. For decades, soaps were king on daytime TV, and now it's talk shows and judge shows; but somehow General Hospital has held on, with Maurice Bernard still there 30 years later. It was great to see him here, and great to see him turn in a great performance.
Finally, someone I was expecting to see even less than Maurice Bernard, was Bill Weeden. Who's Bill Weeden you ask? He played the baddie in Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, one of my all-time favorite films. I had no idea he was doing other stuff, but here he is in this, with long hair, some kind of official person at a church that has a KKK picture on the wall, telling the racist cop's younger brother and his White Nationalist friend that they're fighting the good fight as racists. Sgt. Kabukiman came out in 1990, and 30 years later New York is a very different place--in fact, Troma had to move out of Hell's Kitchen because it's too expensive, and now they're in Long Island City, Queens--which is also where the writer of this film, Taheim Bryan, was killed. I didn't know NYC in the 1990s--and to be fair, I don't really know it now either, I just pop up there a few times a year for a day trip to see a sporting event or go to a work conference--but this film kind of gives you the sense that for some people, they were left behind by the changes New York has gone through, but at the same time, for those same people who were left behind, they also have a more authentic relationship with the city. Like so many elements in this film, it's complicated, and in 90s minutes they're able to convey that complicated nature really well.
And with that, let's wrap this up. As of my writing, you can get this on Tubi, Freevee, Plex, and Prime here in the States. While it may have a few moments that were a little rough around the edges, overall this really worked for me, and I think worth checking out, especially on a free streamer.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8171000
And my newest novel, Don's House in the Mountains, is available now on Amazon! Click the image to buy.
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